The Pecks

Still hangin on

2012-01-26T21:42:00.000-08:00

Well we hit 35 weeks today! Woo hoo! I can hardly believe it! Three weeks ago when the doc said he would come any day and we didn't need to bother scheduling any more appointments, Jonathan asked him what would happen if he didn't come right away. The doctor (who, by the way, was a cardiologist before deciding to switch to maternal fetal medicine, which is basically high-risk pregnancies, and has been dealing with pregnant women for 25 years, so he's pretty smart) laughed at him and told him that would be a miracle. Well.... I guess we're witnessing a miracle! I am so so sooo grateful for that, too! I keep thinking about the fact that we aren't going have a long NICU stay, and if he stays in a little while longer.... who knows, maybe he could actually come home with us! I've never brought a baby home with me or had one in the room with me at the hospital so I'm getting so excited at the thought of it!! But whatever happens, we're just extremely thankful for this blessing.
I think there are a lot of things that have contributed to keeping him in. Obviously, modern medicine. I don't go two hours without taking something and when it's getting close to my next dose I definitely need it. Without it, we'd be in serious trouble! I have yet to dip to having contractions less than every ten minutes ever and some days its around every 5 or 6 minutes, but they haven't pushed the babe out yet so it's okay. Some days I am just ready to be done with the pain, but most of the time it's manageable. 12 weeks of bedrest probably helps, too. I literally get off the couch to go to appointments, the bathroom, take a bath, and that's about it. Also great doctors. They said they were more aggressive with me than they normally would have been since Caden came so early and I'm so glad they were. We wouldn't have made it nearly this far if they hadn't been watching me close and intervened so early. Jonathan's Christmas break was perfect timing so that I could lay on the couch the whole 6 weeks he was off and he took care of everything, but even if he hadn't had that break, our ward is so amazing I know we wouldn't have had anything to worry about. They have brought dinner every other night the whole time and babysat a lot and I always have people offering to help. It's so nice to have a huge list of people offering for you to call at a moment's notice to watch your kids. They've seriously been amazing. I think being able to be happy and not get depressed and too stressed out has helped too. In the hospital, they told me everyone on bedrest gets depressed. Honestly, I never got to that point. Stressed sometimes, yes, but never depressed. I think it is due to all the amazing support I have. I've had so many people just drop by to drop something off or visit. So many sending texts or messages and calling and everyone has been so kind and made me feel so good. Every little kind word makes a difference and I have felt so loved that there was no way I could possibly get down in the dumps. THANK YOU everyone so much!!!
Still, with all these helps, it's still nothing short of a miracle and mostly due to all the prayers and fasting others have done on our behalf. Last night while studying scriptures we were reading about miracles and Jonathan explained to the boys that our baby staying in is a miracle. It was so fun to tell them that and see them understand (as well as they can :) ). Going from knowing he might not survive to knowing he would have serious long-term problems to now knowing he has almost a 100% chance of being totally fine and maybe coming home with us is a humbling experience. We know it doesn't always work out this way, in fact it didn't work out for us last time, so I don't know why we've been so blessed, but we are forever grateful to our Heavenly Father and our Savior and to all those who prayed in our behalf. Thank you thank you thank you forever!

Also, as an update, last week was Easton's 4th birthday!!! He didn't get his birthday wish of the baby coming on his birthday, but he did get "Hun" (my mom, they copy what my dad calls her :) ) to come! She came down to help celebrate and help me out with Jonathan back in school and the boys loved it! He also got so spoiled with presents from everyone and has had a heyday with his new toys ever since. On Monday, Jonathan had taken Easton to Chuck E Cheese for the first time and he had a ball. Jonathan did too, he's so excited to go back :) Then on his birthday, since Dad was at school, my Mom took the boys to one of those blow up, bouncy house places and I think Easton was in heaven. They were the first ones there when it opened and the last ones to leave before it closed in the afternoon. Oh my word those boys had so much fun! Then that night we had a couple of friends over for cake and ice cream. I didn't want to do anything too big since I can't exactly do much, and since we didn't know if we would even be here or not, but luckily my aunt Brenda and uncle Craig and their family had sent Easton a Lightning McQueen pinata for his birthday and Easton couldn't talk about much else in the weeks leading up to it! We even watched videos on youtube of kids breaking pinatas so Easton kept saying, "Everyone will line up and everyone gets three hits and then it's the next person's turn." Well, the few kids that were there were all pretty little, so finally Jonathan took one big whack at it and candy pelted the wall and I was sure he broke something :) No harm done though, and the boys thought it was the coolest thing ever and kept talking about how Dad broke the pinata and the candy flew at the wall. It was a happy, simple birthday party that Easton loved.

The day after the party, we got hit with the stomach flu. Well, some of us did. My poor mom was sick as a dog and so were Easton and Caden. Luckily me and Jonathan escaped it, but my mom was so sick and then right after she got better she and Easton got a cough and cold. Some fun for them huh? But because she was sick, she stayed longer than she was planning and decided to stay another week. It was sooo nice to have her here while Jonathan was in school. Especially since she took the boys to the park one day and she was worried about leaving me home alone so she brought a blanket and I just laid on the blanket and read a book while she played with the boys. My word it was so nice to get out in the sunshine! It was 65 degrees and I was in a t-shirt and flip flops and starting to sweat by the time we left. I actually got a sunburn, I'm pretty sure that's easy when your skin hasn't seen the sun for 3 months. She left today since Jonathan doesn't have school on Fridays so he'll be here with me for the rest of the weekend. So we're hoping the baby either comes this weekend or next, but not while Jonathan is in school. Which leads me to some exciting news..... Only one more week of bedrest!!! Next Thursday I'll be 36 weeks and so I'll stop the medicine and bedrest! Woo hoo! So excited! I really really hope he stays in till then cuz I'm curious to see how long I'll last before he comes after I go back to being normal. Honestly, I can't imagine it would be that long, but I've heard of people who do so I want to know! Jonathan has a basketball game that night so he's making me wait till after to stop my medicine, ya know, just so he doesn't risk missing it :) So I'm going to go to his game and then stop taking the meds after that. I am sooo excited to go to his game and do normal things! So we'll see what happens next weekend!

My one word

2012-01-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

I'm sure a lot of you are big fans of Shawni Eyre Pothier and her blog 71toes. She is seriously awesome. I love reading her blog for its beautiful pictures and inspirational mothering insights. One thing she does is choose one word to be her goal for the new year, and I really like that. I've been trying to decide what my one word would be for a while. I loved President Monson's article "Living the Abundant Life" in the Ensign this month and I wanted to somehow incorporate that into my word. So, as simple as it is, I've decided my word is going to be "enjoy." If I enjoy my life, it will be abundant (which is part of the principles he encourages in his article). Especially with adding a newborn, it can sometimes be hard to enjoy everyday moments, and my kids will be grown way too fast. They're still pretty little, in fact part of the reason I wanted to focus on this is because I don't want to get overwhelmed with having 3 kids 4 and under (since Easton turns 4 this week!). I feel like when I had one it was super easy to enjoy every moment, then we had little Caden, who is such a ray of sunshine now(most of the time) but for the first 18 months of his life was more on the fussy, crabby side and after 3 straight months of colic and a year and a half of not sleeping through the night, I am sad to say I probably didn't enjoy that time as much as I could have. The past year has been great, I feel like I've enjoyed my boys so much and loved the simple happiness every day brought, even though there are always bad days, but with a new little personality joining our family I want to make sure I continue to enjoy the boys I have as well as soak up the sweet bundle of joy we'll be adding. Because let's face it, the newborn days and here and gone SO fast and they never, ever come back. And if something not really important is getting in the way of me enjoying my boys, it will be eliminated. Life's too short to be wasted on the stuff that interferes with the "best stuff." So to start off, I'm going to list some things I've enjoyed about bedrest, now that I've had 11 weeks to fully experience it :).

- Politics. There's always something interesting to read about the presidential race and I've never really followed politics before so it's been fun to have the time to learn about the candidates and how things work.
- Brushing teeth and combing hair. These monotonous every day things I cram in when I'm in a hurry to rush out the door are now some of the limited things I can do for my family so I actually like doing it! (I also get to sort and fold the laundry from the couch! And... that's about it :) )
- Knowing what's going on with people. Before Halloween, I had no idea. I rarely checked people's blogs, all I did on facebook was post something one of the boys said and then maybe I'd glance through the feed, but not too often. Now I'm not going "What? She had a baby? I didn't even know she was pregnant?" Not that I think this is super important and I'll probably go back to rarely getting on once I can actually get up and do things, but for the time it was kind of fun. Although I do have a goal to update the blog a little more, at least more than once a year :)
- Not being sick. It's winter, cold and flu season, and I've been sick twice in the past few months and not even that sick. That's a definite perk about not leaving your house. Also, that I don't have morning sickness. One of my friend's husbands brought dinner over the other day and we were talking about his wife who has morning sickness and he was saying that it was obviously not as bad as what I'm going through and I thought, "Are you kidding me? I would take this over that any day!" I had it for the first 18 weeks with this pregnancy and that was awful. Morning sickness is like bedrest except you can't eat anything and what's worse than that? Lying on the couch with an upset stomach..... no thank you. I'll take contractions.
- Being the nest. One thing I didn't realize, if you're home on the couch all day, your kids will be too. I usually have one or both of them on the couch with me, and when I'm on my side so that my knees make a triangle against the couch, a little boy will undoubtedly hop in and cry, "Oh thank you for making my nest!" and I become a nest until I need to change positions. It's also been fun to be able to read, play Trouble, and work on learning stuff with them.
- Time. Speaking of that, I have loved having all this time with them. I really miss not doing things like going to the park, library, walks, playing hide and seek, but it's fun to have time to do lots of other things with them. In fact, since I knew I would probably be on bedrest (but never thought it would be for this long) I had a huge list of things I would accomplish. You know, really productive things, like writing a book, learning how to use photoshop, finishing my 1/2 a class that stands between me and graduating (it's only been like 2 years that I've been trying to get around to finishing it. don't judge.) learning how to use my camera better, reading the entire standard works as well as all conference talks since conference started, yada yada yada.... but I didn't take into account the fact that I'm still a mom, and even though Jonathan has been here most of the time and is doing an amazing job taking care of all of us, my boys still want mom-time.. a lot! I also didn't factor in stress, lack of sleep from waking up every 2 hours to take meds, side effects from said meds that make accomplishing anything impossible, and just the fact that when you're extremely worried about the well-being of one of your children it's difficult to focus on anything at all, especially anything serious that requires focus to understand. So while some goals were still accomplished (don't be looking for a novel by Linsi Peck to appear in your local bookstore anytime soon), the thing I did most was spend time with my family and a big chunk of my reading centered on how to improve as a mother. Both beneficial in my book. And I will still finish that darn class soon.... I hope.

Well, that's good for now. Basically bedrest isn't all that bad. I think Jonathan has really enjoyed taking on the role of full-time parent, and boy he does a good job at it. He's done the whole she-bang, including deep cleaning, organizing, putting up and putting away Christmas, library, park days, grocery shopping, haircuts, well-checks at the doctor, taking Caden for shots, and doing it all after waking up at night with kids who had bad dreams or are still having one and crying in their sleep and then wake up early because their tummy says, "rumble grumble." He's loved spending so much time with our boys, but now understands much better the "trenches" of everyday parenthood and how much your attitude affects your children's behavior (and he is good. I have so much to learn from him). He said he's decided he will be getting up at night with the new baby because he can see now how hard it is to do all the normal "mom" stuff and get no sleep. He said it will be much easier for him to be tired and go to law school than for me to be tired and have to do it all, all day. I'll let him be the undisputed winner on this point :)
PS- One thing he hasn't had to worry about is dinner, thanks to our amazing ward and friends down here! They've been bringing us dinners this whole time and Jonathan has only had to cook twice because someone always seems to have made an extra lasagna or drop a pizza by or something like that. It has been sooooo nice for him to not have to worry about it, especially as he was trying to finish a paper for the law journal. You never realize how much time meal planning, shopping, preparing, and cleaning up take until you don't have to do it, and it has been such a blessing to not have any more added stress on his plate! Thank you all soooo much!

I may start whining more....

2012-01-12T04:38:00.000-08:00

...because apparently it works! I went to bed Monday night so sick of everything and ready to be done and woke up Tuesday feeling much better. Like, I've only been having contractions about every 10 minutes and they don't even hurt that bad! Yahoo! I feel so much better. Maybe the Lord decided I'd had all I could for now :) Whatever the reason, I am sooo grateful. And even more grateful that today marks 33 weeks! I think what may have calmed things down is that before I was taking procardia every 4 hours and terbutaline as needed when I had painful contractions in between doses. Well, the more often you take terbutaline, the faster your body gets used to it and it loses effectiveness, so I was taking it as little as possible, only a few times a day, to try to make the effects last longer. On Sunday night after being in so much pain all the time I decided to just start taking it every 4 hours like I did at the hospital, and I think that around Monday night I finally got enough in my system that it calmed things down. So the downfall is it isn't going to work as long, but I'm afraid to stop taking it every 4 hours in case things get crazy again. I'm going to talk to my doctor tomorrow though, so we'll see what he thinks. But for now, things are feeling much better! I still don't have much holding him in so it could still happen any time, but at least my uterus isn't trying so hard to push him out anymore. I'm so relieved! Thank you everyone for your sweet words! And thank you to those who've shared your stories with me. I love hearing about other people's babies and how they did. In fact I look up stories online and see how babies fared at whatever weeks I'm at, and I've found a few 33 weekers who were only in the NICU for less than 2 weeks! We've decided anything less than a month is going to be awesome, but it's so cool to think we could be 2 weeks or less. Well, it is 4:30 am and I think I can finally go back to sleep, so just so everyone knows, things are pretty nice over here :)

Wit's End...

2012-01-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

is totally where I'm at right now. Today marks 10 weeks on bedrest, but that's not what's killing me. I could take 10 more weeks if I needed to, but it also marks 1 week of 10+ contractions every hour and I've about had it already. They've slowly been increasing each day and yesterday and today were 15+ every hour. I am literally about to rip my hair out. This morning I also was having lots more cramping, back pain, and pressure than normal and it kept up all morning so we were planning on going in to the hospital when the boys woke up from their naps, but by the time they did I was actually feeling a little better. They still hurt, but not as bad so now I'm still just here waiting in limbo for something to make me feel like I need to go in NOW. I really am glad it hasn't happened yet, he's gotten a few more days in than we thought he would, but I'm not sure how much more I can handle without losing my mind. I'm back up to taking medicine every other hour to try to control the intensity but I can tell it's not really working much anymore. The good part of that is the side effects have decreased since the pills aren't as effective, but that also means more and stronger contractions. I can't believe I thought I was having a lot of contractions back when I was having 8 an hour. Sheesh, it's amazing what a little perspective does for ya. Which is why I'm trying really really hard to think about the positive fact that he's staying in longer so it's better for him and will be easier to not have him in the nicu for as long, but boy it's tough. My poor boys, I've been such a grump lately.
Whew, now that I've got that off my chest, maybe I can write something positive. :) A nurse came over to do an assessment on me today and she said what every other nurse and doctor has told me: "I really can't believe you're still pregnant." Every time someone says that it just reminds me how grateful I should be, how blessed we really are. Good night I'm going to be 33 weeks on Thursday! That's amazing! And babies born at this age are even so much better off than babies born two weeks earlier, so that will make the weeks after he's born that much easier. Truly we are grateful, even if my complaining makes it seem otherwise. Apparently you guys are just too good at praying for him to stay in. :)
The boys are beyond excited. I think Easton asks me at least 5 times a day when the baby will come out. Last night he seemed to have a blonde moment and asked when our baby HAD come out. For some reason he thought he'd already come and was in the hospital :) Silly boy.
Also, if you ever get a chance, have a conversation with Caden. He's suddenly decided that, despite what he's been insisting on for the last few months, he is NOT a baby. He's now a big boy and gets upset when I tell him he's my baby. With his new attitude he's suddenly become more talkative and started into telling stories. I LOVE just sitting and chatting with him now to see what he'll say. Yesterday he told me a big long story about Kung Fu Panda falling and even included how he said, "No, no, noooooooo....." as he was falling. His stories can go on forever, I just keep asking him questions to see what else he'll say. :)
That's all for now. Maybe we'll be rushing over to the hospital tonight, maybe he'll hang on for a little longer. I'd like to know the record for how long this type of thing can go on before the body gives up, but I can't imagine it will be too much longer. I'll be sure to update if he does come!

Still cookin'

2012-01-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

I'm updating again, mostly because I'm bored. I've been up for a few hours and I'm tired of reading news and looking at people's blogs. Mostly I'm tired of being tired. It's awfully hard to sleep when you're having contractions every few minutes. Usually I'll get a few hours a night when the medicine will calm the intensity down enough and I'm so tired I can sleep through them, but after I get a little rest and am not too dead-tired enough to notice them, I can't ignore them anymore. Luckily you don't need a lot of sleep when you do nothing all day :) And I keep telling myself it's better than him being at the NICU.
So I've started getting really worried lately. With Caden, I went from "I'm kind of uncomfortable from this stomach pain" to having bearing down pains in 1 1/2 hours. Yikes. So I'm a little stressed this time about knowing when to go in. I have cramping and pressure pretty much all day so that won't give it away. I had back pain with Easton but never with Caden so I don't know if that's going to come or not. I asked my doctor and he said the only thing he can think of is waiting for them to get regular, so I spend a lot of time counting them when I'm not actually on the monitor. So far we're not exactly regular so I guess that's good. They'll come every 6 minutes, then every 3, then 2, then 4, then 2, then 5, then 7, and just keep changing so I guess as long as it stays like that I'm staying put here. Which I'm totally fine with. I'm happy I made it this far and don't have the worries I had before, but still, the longer he cooks the better. I remember when I hit 24 wks and my cousin Megan texted me "Happy 50% day!" because that was his chance of survival at that age and I was SO excited to have made it there since my cervix was already shortening and I was on anti-contraction medicine and bedrest. I didn't care what issues he had, I was just happy he had at least that much chance of surviving. Now it's like 98% chance, I think almost the same as a full-term baby with no greater risk of long-term complications than a full-termer. Hooray! So anyway, things are good here and I know this is stuff I've already said but.... I'm bored. And a main intention of me updating this was so you all know that he has not come yet :) I know when I'm waiting for a friend to have their baby I'm constantly checking online and texting them to see if it's baby time so I figured maybe some of you are crazy like me. Not yet though, although after my monitoring yesterday my doctor looked at the strip and then called to tell me that it looks like he'll be coming really soon, the medicine isn't doing much anymore. Even though this is exactly what he told me at my appointment the day before, it made me a little more nervous because usually a nurse just calls and let me know how many I had and asks me how I'm feeling and everything and decided with him if I need to go into the hospital, so the fact that he called me himself just to tell me that and remind me of what to watch for to head over to labor and delivery made me a little more nervous that he'll be here really soon. We'll see! Hopefully Easton gets his birthday wish that the baby will come at 6am on his birthday in a few weeks. That would be stupendous.
Well, I'm done. Easton just woke up and came out and said, "Mom, how did you wake up before me?" I told him my stomach hurt so I came out on the couch so I didn't wake up Dad and then I asked him how he woke up so early. He said he heard me out here and wanted to come out and snuggle with me. Off to snuggle time I go! :)

Big News! and a belly shot!

2012-01-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

Well... Easton constantly tells the baby he wants him to come out now and he's so excited to play with him and I guess the little guy has decided to grant him his wish! My contractions have been getting more constant and more painful and this week I've had 10+ every hour. We went to the doctor today and I told Jonathan I was going to be really surprised if my cervix hadn't changed at all in the past two weeks with all this action. So I wasn't too surprised when the tech did the ultrasound and there was very little cervix left and what was left was wide open all the way through. Basically there's about a centimeter of cervix left but it's dilated and open through so there's essentially nothing holding him in there. The doctor didn't want to check to see if I was dilated any more on the outside (I've been dilated 2-3 since 26 wks) because he didn't want to irritate it at all and said it didn't really matter because he'll be coming anytime now anyway. He told me not even to worry about scheduling another appointment because I won't make it and he had me get another steroid shot since he said there probably won't be time to do them once I get to the hospital. So for now I am moving as little as possible and hoping it will help him stay in at least a little longer. Obviously we want him to stay in as long as he can, but he does have a lot of good things going for him. Tomorrow I'll be 32 weeks, at which point his risk of long-term brain damage isn't any greater than it would be for a full-term baby. He's also almost 4 lbs so he's bigger already than Caden was and over a week older. I've gotten the steroid shots which help a lot so hopefully he won't have to be on oxygen for too long. My biggest worries with preemie babies are brain bleeds, picc lines, and feeding tubes since all can cause serious problems. He's past the brain bleed worry, hopefully past the picc lines, and will probably have feeding tubes but hopefully not for too long. They make me nervous that they'll be put in wrong and he'll end up aspirating fluid, so the less time he has them the better! We couldn't hold Caden for the first week until his PICC line came out because of the risk of it snapping and traveling up his artery to his heart, so hopefully this little man is big enough to get his nutrition by mouth instead of needing that IV. But going from wondering if he'll survive at 23 weeks to having just these few worries at 32 weeks is amazing and we're so grateful for this blessing!
Anyway, this is very long, but it could be my last post before we meet our little boy! The NICU stay is never fun and hopefully it will be as short as possible, but I will definitely welcome the relief from these darn contractions and a chance to get some sleep. It's pretty tough to sleep when your uterus is having a party all night and lately I'm looking like a zombie all the time now so the sleep I get before he comes home from the NICU is going to be heaven! I'm still on all my meds and while they are no longer lowering the number of contractions, they do lessen the intensity for a little while so that's been giving me a bit of relief. We'll see how long we have till we meet the little man! We're still crossing our fingers he stays in a bit longer and keeps surprising everyone, but at this point we are very happy with what we get! In fact, Jonathan and I both have a really good feeling that everything is going to be fine and we're just really happy and excited to meet him so we'll see how much longer we have to wait!

Here are my only belly pics. I'm never very good at taking these and I actually took two this time but had never posted them, so here they are!
This first one is a great picture huh? I was 25 1/2 weeks and I took this in the morning before my dr appointment (since that's the only time I'm dressed :) ). I realized what a terrible pic it was so I was going to have my mom take one after I got home from the appt but I ended up having to go straight to the hospital from the dr office, so this is what we've got :)

This pic was also before an appt, the day after I hit 31 wks. And holy cow my face is looking nice and chubby :) This pregnancy was weird. Instead of a nice, cute, round baby bump I just got chubby all around my middle and looked pretty spongebob squarepantsish, so I was pretty happy when my belly started poking out to lessen the "I just ate too many cheeseburgers and I'm really bloated" look.

Neither are great pics, but I don't know that I'll be taking another one so this is what we've got! I had all these visions of cute maternity pics I would take but this will have to do. I've already gained 25 lbs which is what you're supposed to gain the entire pregnancy and 9 weeks of bedrest leaves you with absolutely NO muscle tone at all so this is going to be a lot of fun getting back in shape :) Oh well, I'm just happy to be able to go on walks and actually know what's in my fridge! And grocery shopping! And cleaning! Yay! :)

31 Weeks!!!

2011-12-29T22:34:00.000-08:00

Today marks 31 weeks! Hooray!!! I am so thrilled and grateful and amazed that we're here! This little boy has now beat out Caden and will hopefully catch up to how far Easton made it. No one knows for sure, but we're definitely hoping! To be completely honest, last time I posted I was thinking maybe we could keep him in for quite a while, but in the last week and a half I've begun to doubt that more and more. We had an appointment a week and a half ago and my cervix hadn't gotten any shorter, but I'm anxious to see what they find next week, because since that time I've gone from 3-4 contractions an hour being the average to now 8-10, almost every hour, all day every day, and they're getting more painful. A normal pregnant woman is supposed to call her doctor if she has 4 or more contractions per hour (assuming she's not close to her due date), and at first I was supposed to call if I had 6 or more, but now they've raised it to 10 or more since I usually have close to that and it's just normal. Basically what happens is the receptors in your brain or uterus (I can't remember which, they're basically the same right? :) ) get saturated with the medicine so as time goes on it doesn't work as well. You can usually get about 4-6 weeks out of the meds before the receptors get too saturated and it quits working altogether. I got about 5 weeks the first time and then went on the magnesium which serves as a washout and allows the receptors to become sensitive again so you can start another round of meds. I'm now at 4 1/2 weeks on my second round and the effectiveness is obviously wearing off so we'll see how much longer it works! When it stops working, I don't know if they'll put me back on the magnesium and start meds again or just let him come but I would definitely love to be able to bring him home with me so I'm hoping they'll put me on the mag (did I really just say that?). Having contractions all the time and being in pain all day is starting to make me a little bit grumpy so now I'm thinking that being on the mag for a few days and then having fewer contractions for awhile would be worth it. Having already been through this with Caden, I realize that just doing it to keep him in longer is worth it, but now I can see some added bonuses. :) I guess we'll see what happens over the next little while!
On to Christmas! This was our first year staying home with just our little family and not being around any extended family and while we really missed everyone, we ended up having a lot of fun! I did a lot of Christmas shopping online and Jonathan took the boys out a few times which was actually really fun for him(he HATES shopping normally). He went with friends and took them to see lights and Santa and we had fun doing little Christmas crafts at home and reading stories. Caden loved playing with the "activity"(nativity) and would sit and speak for the different characters, making the wiseman ask the camel for a ride and things like that. On Christmas Eve we went to a friend's house for dinner. I actually got to go somewhere! Don't worry, it was about a 3 minute drive and then I walked straight in and laid on the couch and didn't get up all night. I'm allowed to get up 10 minutes every few hours so I counted this as my "getting up" time. Some friends from our ward and some new friends were there and it was so fun to get to visit and play games for a few hours. We didn't get home and get the boys down till hours after bedtime so we got the extra present of getting to sleep in on Christmas morning! The first thing Easton did when he woke up is run to see if Santa had eaten his cookies :) We opened presents and played with toys forever and then the boys went to church. Our sweet neighbor had brought over an entire ham dinner with a ginormous ham that we were never going to be able to eat by ourselves, so we invited some friends from law school who hadn't gone home for Christmas over on Christmas day to help eat it. Jonathan was nice since I just laid on the couch the whole time and he got to get everything ready. I think he's going to love when he has a wife back again! Although I did change Caden's diaper today while lying on the couch, so maybe I'll figure out some more ways to help out. Basically all I'm good for now is brushing teeth, combing hair, reading stories and playing games. Anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas and I got my wish of being able to be home for it! While we recorded everything on the video camera, I didn't take one picture! Not even of our tree! Jonathan's parents cut down a tree up the canyon by their house in Coalville and drove it 7 hours down here to us and since our apartment has 10 ft ceilings we got a 10 ft tree! Possibly the only time we'll ever have one that tall and it was sure fun for me to look at every day on the couch. Anyway, it was great and wonderful and I'm so grateful for a season full of music and stories celebrating Christ's love that I get to share with my children. I'm especially grateful for the peace that comes with the knowledge of His life and love and the eternal perspective that brings. What a wonderful holiday!
We did get a very special Christmas surprise, the day after Christmas my family came down to visit! They took the boys all over to do fun things, allowed Jonathan some much needed time to work on a paper due tomorrow, and played a very long game of Settlers of Catan with me :) It was a blast! I did send my camera with them one day when they went to the park so I have a couple pictures of the week.

Here's Uncle McKay playing soccer with them.

Here's my dad teaching Easton correct tee ball form. I love how you can actually see the ball flying through the air in this picture. Nice shot Nikki!

Here's Caden and "The Hun." Don't let her winter coat fool you, it was 65 degrees.

In fact, it's been pretty warm the last few weeks. Our thermostat is set to 66 and our heater has only turned on a handful or times, and those were mostly in the middle of the night. I think the built-in heater is one of my favorite perks of being pregnant. Good thing I live in a houseful of boys who don't get cold, I'm sure once I have the baby I'm going to come home and crank up the heater, but for now it feels great and our utilities bill loves it too! :)
I hope everyone else had a merry Christmas! I've had visions of our adorable Christmas cards all year and had committed to myself that we were actually going to send some out, but plans change so here's my post-Christmas greeting to everyone wishing you all a Merry Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in a couple of days!!!

Home for a Week!

2011-12-20T22:00:00.000-08:00

Well, obviously I blog a lot less when I'm at home than when I'm in the hospital :) My days seem a lot more full now, even though I still lay down all day, at least now I get to help take care of the boys a little (brushing teeth and hair, reading, etc. ya know, stuff I can do from the couch) and have people to talk to all day. Things are going pretty good. We had an awesome appointment with the perinatologist yesterday. We found out my cervix is still holding strong so that is awesome! It's still short, but it hasn't gotten shorter so that is great news! In fact the doctor came in and said, "I can't believe it. Linsi, you have a crazy cervix!" He doesn't know how it's still holding, but I know it has a lot to do with all the fasting and prayers everyone is giving this kid! The baby looks great too! He is 2 lbs 15 oz so by the time I hit 30 wks this Thursday he should be a little over 3 lbs! The weird thing is Cade was born at 30 wks 5 days and he was 3 lbs 11 oz so he was a big kid! They did an indepth ultrasound of him too and looked at everything and it looks great. In fact, we could even see his hair floating in the amniotic fluid! So maybe he'll be taking after Caden's luscious locks! His cheeks even looked a little chubby on the ultrasound, which I'm not surprised about because Cade already had chubby cheeks when he was barely 5 lbs. We also go in twice a week to monitor his heart rate and contractions and so far he's been doing great! The only part we're struggling with right now is the contractions. I generally have 3-5 an hour, but I don't have to go to the hospital unless I have more than 6 an hour. Last Saturday I was doing my home monitoring and had 8-10 an hour for 5 hours even while using both medicines so I had to go in, but by the time I got in they calmed to 4 an hour so I didn't have to stay. Today I had 7-9 an hour for a few hours so I was nervous they were going to have me go in again, but I finally got it calmed down with meds. The only problem is once I get the contractions under control I'm on so much medication that I feel jittery and shaky and my heart is racing and my blood pressure is low and I just feel weird, so that's not fun, but at least the contractions are down to 4 or so an hour. The fact that it's happening more often makes me nervous about how long we can keep them under control, but hopefully for a few more weeks, or at least till after Sunday so I can be here for Christmas!
Also, I think I should explain something that will make this all make a lot more sense. I have a didelphic uterus, so basically, I am a freak. ;) Instead of one uterus, I have two, so they're both half the size of a normal one. So while normally it gets full about 40 weeks and starts to stretch and triggers labor to start, mine got full and started stretching a few months ago which is why I started having contractions at 22 weeks. So now, it's really stretched and has just been trying to get this baby out and we just keep pumping muscle relaxers into my body to calm it down. That's why I always contract and why there's nothing I can do to completely stop it. The fact that I have a short cervix adds another worry, but I also take hormones to relax that and they seem to be working well. I didn't know I had it till I was 17 weeks pregnant with this baby, but it sure explains why the others didn't stay in long enough. The only weird thing is that with this condition you're supposed to carry each baby longer because your uterus gets stretched out, but for some reason mine are coming earlier each time. The doctors have no idea why this is happening since it's supposed to be the opposite, but maybe after this baby comes out they'll find an answer in there! I always wonder if I could get pregnant in both sides at the same time, but they won't know till they take this baby out. My doctor suspects one side has an underdeveloped cervix, so if that's the case I wouldn't get pregnant in that side. I've read stories online though about women who have one in each side so it does happen! In fact my great-great-grandma had twins and one miscarried and the other stayed in, so we think she had it, too. This little boy has switched to breech and since there's not as much room in there they don't think he'll be flipping again, so a c-section is pretty likely. But during a c-section they'll be able to look everything over and see exactly what I've got, so that's a positive. Hopefully this all makes sense, I'm on a lot of medicine right now so it might sound really jumbled :)
Besides contractions everything else is going good! Christmas is a few days away, we have AMAZING friends here who have dropped by to visit, brought dinner, and had the boys over to play so Jonathan could work on a paper that's due next week, so things have been going pretty smooth. We're so lucky and especially grateful for all the new faces we've been able to meet. So many people have brought by meals and treats that we've been able to meet new people and see a lot of our friends that we don't see much. And best of all I've almost made it to my goal of 30 wks! Next goal: 32 wks!!! Thank you again for all the prayers!!

Home Sweet Home

2011-12-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

12 blood draws
up to 24 pills a day
5 different rooms
4 shots
3 IVs
2 days on magnesium
1 trip to L&D
and exactly 3 weeks to the day
I'm finally HOME!
Halleluja!
(and don't worry, i'm down to 10 pills a day. yikes that still sounds horrible)

Maybe Tomorrow??

2011-12-11T20:53:00.001-08:00

K, things went good today. Not many contractions or heart decelerations! I think my fluid has gone up sufficiently that the kid can't find his cord anymore to play with, pinch, and wrap himself all up in. Seriously, when my fluid was low and we did an ultrasound he was surrounded with the darn thing. You could see it wrapped around his legs, lying in piles under his head and back, and he even had a nice chunk of it in his hands that he was playing with during the ultrasound. So it was easy to figure out why his heart rate was dropping so much, and now things are much more calm. They also have me on a new medicine schedule. Instead of taking terbutaline and procardia every 6 hours alternating so that I get one every 3 hours, I just take procardia now every 4 hours, which is the max dose. The problems was my body got too used to the terb and it didn't do anything to help, so it was basically like I was only getting medicine every 6 hours. Now I get procardia every 4 hours and that seems to be working well, only problem is that it takes about an hour to kick in and sometimes that's too long, so if I'm having contractions in between doses or before the next dose has fully kicked in then I take terbutaline, which now that I haven't been taking it as much it is a lot more effective. This system is working quite well and I'm hoping it will buy us a few more weeks! So that's the deal there, we'll talk to the doctors tomorrow and see what they think, but I think they'll let me go!
The boys have been so cute since they came home. I think going away alone together without mom and dad helped them become even better friends because they love playing together even more now. And they've been sharing better, too. Tonight they each had a cookie and Caden of course scarfed his while Easton ate a bite here and there so when Caden realized his was gone and Easton still had his he asked Easton for a bite. Jonathan was holding Easton's cookie and E grabbed it and walked over and stuck it in Caden's mouth for him to take a bite. Then he took one and they laughed and went on playing their little "game" of biting the cookie. The only problem was that Easton is a major hugger and wanted a hug after each bite to go with Cade's "thank you." Caden, in being opposite to his brother in almost every way, is not a touchy-feely sort of guy and would awkwardly lean into Easton's chest while E hugged his head, but eventually he didn't even want to do that so Easton had to settle for a simple "thank you." The funny thing about Cade is he LOVES to be touched and could have his back/leg/hand tickled forever, but when it comes to hugs he wants nothing to do with them. Kisses are okay though. :)
I also wanted to record something about Easton before I forget. Like I said, he's a major hugger, and snuggler, and kisser, and cuddler... basically we're going to have to have some serious talks with him about physical affection before he starts dating. But for now it's so fun to have a snuggler. The only part that's become a problem is that he watches me and Jonathan kiss and so sometimes he tries to give me long, loving smooches like Daddy does. I decided it was making me a little uncomfortable so I told him that he should kiss mom and dad on the cheek from now on to avoid the problem. It worked for about a day, then one night when he was going down for bed I gave him my cheek to kiss and he kissed it, but when I looked at him he had tears in his eyes and the saddest look on his face I've ever seen. I asked what was wrong and he said he was just so sad that he couldn't kiss me on the lips. Break my heart. So I told him that he could but it just needed to be a quick kiss because only mommies and daddies do long kisses. The kid got so excited and gave me a quick peck and was happy as a little lark. And I felt like a big jerk for telling him he couldn't. And then it just makes me think about how fast he's growing up and how soon he'll be in high school and might not want to kiss me or cuddle me at all anymore. Oh, why do they have to grow up? That's the worst part of parenting! Of course it seems like I want to freeze him at every stage, so I know the ones coming will be fun too, but that will mean others are left behind. I think I baby Caden already because I realize from Easton that he'll be big too soon. In fact if you tell Cade he's a big boy he'll say, "No, I not a big boy. I a baby!" I don't mind having two babies, I'll enjoy it while I can. Hopefully Caden won't mind the fact that soon he won't be the only baby in the house!

The Boys Are Back in Town!

2011-12-10T14:52:00.001-08:00

Well.... almost anyway :) My mom and my cousin Morgan were coming down to see my grandma in the hospital in Panguitch so they brought the boys down and met Jonathan in Cedar City and now they're about an hour and a half away!!! Yay I'm so excited! I've been wondering the whole time if they were even going to want to come home because they've been having such a ball up there so I decided I needed to start preparing them a few days early, so on Thursday I asked Easton if he wanted to come home and (much to my happiness) he got all excited and started jumping up and down squealing. Phew, I guess he does love us after all! Unfortunately, I probably should have waited a day, because then by Friday he was done and for the first time since he's been gone, he cried for us and wanted to go home. I'm sure this was aggravated by the fact that he wouldn't take a nap that day. Anyway, Jonathan picked them up and said they were so excited and happy and kept asking him to bring them to the hospital to see me :)
I was really hoping they would be able to come get me and take me home, but when the perinatologist who is on call for my doctor came in this morning she said she wants me to stay a little bit longer. The baby's heart rate is doing much better and he rarely drops it now, even during strong contractions, so he must have changed position or moved off his cord or something. But I've been having a few episodes of 10-15 contractions an hour the last few days so they want to make sure things aren't getting worse before they let me go. So far I've been able to manage them okay with the medicines, so if that continues to be the case through the weekend then I will be more comfortable going home knowing I can manage them myself, especially since I'll be 29 weeks next week. I know it's still really early, but after six weeks of bedrest and wondering if I'm going to make it to the next week, I feel like I should be due already! It's so weird to think I still have 3 months left. My hope is that things stay stable, I make it to 36 weeks and they take me off bedrest, and then I can finally wear my cute maternity clothes and park in the expectant mothers parking spot at Babies R Us and take maternity pictures with the boys loving my big fat belly and waddle around the park and have complete strangers ask how far along I am and then groan when I tell them it's my 3rd boy and be a normal pregnant person for a few weeks till I get to take a chubby baby home from the hospital with me. I can dream can't I? :)

Almost...

2011-12-08T09:44:00.001-08:00

went home today, but decided to stay a few more days. Baby's heart rate is still dropping with contractions and my doctor came in this morning and said I could come home, but I'd have to go into his office to be monitored for a few hours every day, and when patients get to that point they generally put them in the hospital, so I might as well stay a few more days and see if he can't find a different position or something to get him off the umbilical cord so we don't have to worry about it.
They also did an ultrasound and my fluid has gone back up since stopping the indocine so that's good news! He's weighing in at 2 lbs 6 oz and looks to be doing really good! They also measured my cervix and it's gotten a little longer so that's great! My body is still trying to go into labor, so I have a lot of lower back pain and cramping with the contractions, but it's good to know it hasn't affected my cervix yet, that's great news! My doctor said again for me to not worry too much about the fact that I'm having contractions because there's nothing they can do to stop them, but just that I need to be concerned if they get too frequent or strong. The medicine seems to be suppressing them enough right now that I can go home and manage them okay at home, so hopefully this heart rate stuff resolves itself soon! Quit squishing your cord baby! :)
Other than that things are going good! Jonathan's last final is in 3 hours so that will be a relief to have done. The boys are coming back this weekend, hopefully I will be too :) I'm nervous to leave the hospital, but I will be getting monitored in his office 2-3 times per week and I'll still do the home monitoring every day, so I should be able to be aware of when I need to go back to the hospital. I don't feel like I'm going crazy and dying to get out or anything, but if I don't need to be here then it would be nice to be at home, so we'll see how these next few days go!

The Cabin

2011-12-05T21:45:00.001-08:00

We got to go to the cabin at Fishlake the week before we came back to school. I grew up coming here and I love bringing the boys here. There was a lot of fishing...

Motorcycling and Fourwheeling... Easton's helmet was a little big....

Typical post-ride dirty faces....

Pontooning and more fishing...

Walking down to the creek and more fishing...

Wildflowers...

Jumping off rocks...

And just plain happiness. Ah, I miss it already.

Update

2011-12-04T12:17:00.001-08:00

First of all, I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone. You already know I'm so grateful for all of the prayers, but thank you also for your kind words. I've had so many comments, texts, phone calls, and messages from people wanting to know how they can help and also just telling me something positive and it really makes my day. I don't feel I deserve it, but it makes me so happy just the same. There are so many sweet people and it sets such a great example for me of what I should do when others are going through trials. I think that's one reason we have tough experiences, so we can be awed at the compassion and love we receive and have a greater desire to show that same love to others. Thank you.
As for an update, I was really thinking that I was going to finally have a positive, happy post where I tell you all how great things are going. It looked that way after I got off the magnesium, the new medicine(indocine) was working great at controlling contractions and they were planning on keeping me on it for possibly a few weeks. One side effect of it is that it lowers your amniotic fluid, so they only put me on half a dose and said it shouldn't affect my fluid for at least a week so they would do another ultrasound then. Well, of course if my contractions are under control something else has to go wrong, right? A few days ago, little junior started dropping his heart rate randomly during his monitoring sessions that we do for two hours a day. So they decided to keep me on the monitoring 24/7, which is difficult to keep a heart monitor on a 2 lb baby so the poor nurses have to constantly come in and find him again if he moves too much. His heart rate would drop about once an hour, but it would come right back up so they weren't too worried, he was probably just laying on or playing with his umbilical cord. But sometimes he drops it a lot, one night they actually wouldn't let me eat anything cuz they thought I was going to have to go in for a c-section because he kept doing it. But he always stops before they get too worried. So yesterday my doctor decided to measure the amniotic fluid to make sure that wasn't part of his sudden issue with dropping his heart rate. They found that my fluid was low, not too low, but below normal and low enough that you could see little buddy's feet and hands all tangled up in his cord and you could even see that he was laying on it. A super active baby in a tiny space with a lot of cord means lots of times when it gets wrapped on a foot or hand or just pinched under him and drops his pulse. So they said that while it's not worrisome, it is annoying because they still have to keep the monitor on just in case he gets a little too tangled up and needs to be rescued. They don't anticipate that happening, but it's just a precaution. Unfortunately, the really bad part is they had to stop the indocine since that's what is causing the drop in fluid, which means I can only have the old medicines I was on before that stopped working. Luckily, the magnesium kind of flushes your body and has a "clean slate" sort of effect so the medicines are working better now than before so hopefully they continue to work a little longer and give this little guy at least till I hit 28 weeks this Thursday! So this is where we sit now. Baby is still having some drops in heart rate so he has to stay on the monitor till he stops, and contractions are getting more frequent since I stopped taking the indocine, but overall things are okay. I'm doing good, bedrest hasn't been too bad, I think after 5 weeks I'm kind of used to it by now. Every now and then I think of how fun it would be to cook a nice meal or go on a run, but I'll be able to do that my whole life.The boys are having an absolute ball up in Utah and haven't been homesick once this whole week, so that's a load off my mind. And Jonathan's, too. He's doing the best he can with finals, but we've had three different occasions this week where they told us the baby might come that night, so he's always stressed while he's gone studying during the day that I'm going to call and tell him to rush over, but I think we'll be able to hold out till Thursday when he finishes for the semester. The only really stressful part for me is watching his heart rate all day and all night and every time it drops hoping it doesn't go too low, last too long, or happen too often. It's also stressful when contractions start getting more frequent or painful and I have to just pray my last dose of medicine kicks in soon, but when these stresses are gone I'll have a whole new lot that comes with a baby in the NICU learning to eat, breathe, and keep warm on his own, so I'll take what I have now and be happy.
Plus I just had a shower and my nurse put an eggshell on my mattress so things are looking better already! :)

A little humbling...

2011-12-01T22:33:00.001-08:00

is apparently what I needed. I was getting a little whiny about having to be in the hospital and not being able to be at home on bedrest, so I got to see how things could be worse.
Monday I woke at 3 am with horrible contractions and cramping. The nurse gave me some medicine and after an hour it finally started working, but on and off for the rest of the day they would come back. I had cramping and lower back pain all day and by the evening I was getting really stressed out. They had upped both of my meds to every 4 hours alternating so that I was getting something every 2 hours, but that was still barely controlling it. So when I was doing my monitoring session that night we noticed that every time I had a contraction the baby's heart rate dropped. It only took two of those before the nurse started freaking out and came in to help me adjust and change positions to see if that helped. As she was doing that she noticed his head was down really low and his heart rate dropped on another contraction so they were worried his head was in the birth canal getting squeezed with each contraction. The nurse checked me and said I was dilated 2-3 cm on the outside and 1 cm on the inside and 50% effaced. They had to stop the contractions or deliver the baby, so they put in an IV of Magnesium Sulfate. Oh...my...word. I'd heard people say it was awful, and they were not kidding at all! Basically it relaxes your entire body, all of your muscles. So immediately after they gave it to me I threw up everything since my stomach was now relaxed and didn't want any food in it.(Maybe if it had known it wouldn't get to eat or drink for two days it would have kept it in!) It also makes you feel like you're burning up, so I had to have cold, wet rags on me for two days. And it makes you sensitive to light, so they took me over to labor and delivery and for two days I had to lay flat in a dark room and do nothing except feel like I was burning up. Every now and then I'd start to feel panicked and like I just needed to get up and do something but you can't really move much when all your muscles are relaxed. In fact I could only open one eye at a time, if I tried to open both of them everything would go out of focus. And it makes you super drowsy so you keep falling asleep, but they have to wake you up and talk to you every hour and ask about contractions so it's not like you ever get good sleep. The first day was a little bit better, but I was still having 6-8 contractions an hour so they decided to up the magnesium. The contractions finally calmed down, but the side effects got worse. Luckily the baby was doing fine through all this and never dropped his heart rate once after that. I couldn't really watch tv very well because of the light but I would turn it on and listen to it for a few hours each day when I was feeling particularly stir crazy but any time a food commercial would come on I would hurry and change the channel since even Cheerios commercials were now making me drool. The doctor came in Wednesday afternoon and did an ultrasound and, while I am dilated and he said I'm now 75% effaced, my cervix is still 2 cm long, still short but long enough that he thinks if the contractions calm down I can hopefully keep the baby in till next week when I hit 28 weeks. I about wept with joy when he said they could take me off the magnesium and start a new medicine in addition to my old ones and see if that combination would keep things under control. Well, I'm happy to report that for a full 24-hours now it has done just that! I've only had a few contractions an hour and they haven't even been painful at all! They put me on a low dose of this medicine so that they can keep me on it longer. It can reduce your amniotic fluid though so they have to do an ultrasound every few days and make sure we're okay there. The other drawback to this medicine is that it makes you nauseated, so when I got off the magnesium Jonathan brought a bunch of treats over for me to eat after 2 days of nothing and unfortunately all I could eat was crackers and ginger ale. Thank heavens my nurse gave me Zofran today! Anyway, after all my whining about wanting to be at home, I'm now so grateful just to not be on magnesium and I will gladly lay in a hospital bed for two more months if I have to as long as I don't have to go on it again! While I was on it though, I started thinking about how things could always be worse. I'm sure there are plenty of women who would spend 9 months on magnesium if it meant they could have a baby, and here I am complaining about 2 days! I also thought about what's going to happen to this little boy in the NICU once he comes out, and I realized that his time there will be very similar to what I was experiencing. While he won't be burning hot, he'll have to work hard at keeping warm on his own. He also won't be able to eat or drink anything and will have to be tube fed, and there will probably be plenty of times when he'll be thirsty but he can't tell anyone that. My arm is all bruised up because I had to have my blood drawn every 6 hours to check my mag levels, but he'll be getting poked for weeks. I was bummed because I had just gotten my IV out and I had to get a new one in, but he'll be getting several IVs and a PICC line to get his nutrition from, and all in his tiny little veins that will probably get blown and he'll have to be re-poked somewhere else so they can try again. My sensitivity to sound and light is nothing compared to the overstimulation NICU babies experience. Unless he makes it to 32 weeks, I am not even supposed to touch him and talk to him at the same time because it's too much. His muscles will be just as weak as mine were and he'll probably get sick of lying in an incubator hooked to so many wires and monitors after being in his nice swimming pool where he could move freely and be comfortable. My heart aches and I want to cry when I think about what lies ahead for him. We took a tour of the NICU the other day and I saw a 2lb 9 oz baby and all I could think about was how badly I did not want to have that tiny of a baby! The ultrasound said he's 2 lbs right now, so I'd really love to keep him in for weeks and weeks more! So I'll do everything I can, even if I have to go back on that horrible stuff, if it means he doesn't have to go through it as long. This one's for you little buddy! I'll stay here as long as you stay in there!
And ps, this post is not a cry for sympathy, I know plenty of women who've been on magnesium and some who've been on it for weeks, so I'm not feeling sorry for myself or anything. It could always be much, much worse. I really feel lucky that we've made it so far and that it looks like we'll be able to make it even farther! I'm still convinced it's because of all those wonderful prayers you all send our way. Thank you so so SO much for that!

And yet again!

2011-11-27T09:49:00.001-08:00

Yep, can you believe it? ANOTHER post! Wow this is a record, you'd think I had nothing better to do all day than lie around and update the blog huh? ;) Well, tomorrow it will be exactly 4 weeks since I've been doing just that. When I figured that out I thought, "Four weeks?? That's it? I swear it's been four months!" But no, just one month. The first week I was allowed to still teach preschool and do nothing else, but after that they said no to preschool too. So three weeks at home on the couch, one down in the hospital. Can I just say, being at home is SOOOOO much more enjoyable than being in the hospital! You actually have options at where you want to lay down: on your nice comfy bed, on your nice comfy couch, in your nice comfy bathtub, even your floor can seem nice and comfy for a little while! But now the only change of scenery I get is from pushing the arrow buttons on the side of my hospital bed to either be lying flat or just reclined. Yipee! Although the boys do love to come hop in and ask me to take them for a ride on it :) Those cute little boys left yesterday to be entertained by grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends in Utah while Dad finishes up finals. Boy that was tough, I bawled the night before and almost backed out and convinced Jonathan to keep them here and just have them stay at friends' houses during the day while he studies, but really they were so excited to go and we haven't been able to go home at all to visit this semester so I knew it would be fun for them. The second they're homesick, though, they'll be right back down here! But I'm sure they'll have a ball, it's probably harder on Mama than it is on them, but if any of you see them acting a little crazy or emotional, just know that their life is a little mixed up right now and soon they'll be back home and calmed down. I don't know how long I'll be here, but Jonathan will be done with finals soon so he'll be able to take over and get them back into a little more normal routine. He took them to the library a few weeks ago and said he didn't know how moms do it (he left the movies to return in the car so he couldn't check out the ones he had gotten, had to come out and get the ones to return then go back in and check out the new ones, then forgot to unlock them and had to go back in again! Poor boy!) but he'll adjust. This will be a unique experience for him to do my job all day, but I've noticed that the more he's home taking care of the boys, the more patient he becomes. Sometimes I think he should really be the stay at home parent instead of me :) Anyway, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My parents and siblings came down (minus David and Robin, but plus Ashlee's boyfriend David, so I guess that evens it out right?) Tuesday night and spent the week playing with the boys and coming to visit me every day. On Thanksgiving they brought over a plate of dinner and the pies and we shared them and played games in my luxurious suite. They left Saturday morning so they could stop on the way back and see my cute grandma who's in the hospital in Panguitch. Speaking of that, sometimes I feel like I'm an elderly person here. I normally don't like to take medicine and if I have a headache I'm much more likely to take a nap than a tylenol, but here I feel like a druggie. My mother-in-law even joked that she's going to have to give me some tough love to help with the withdrawals when I come out. I just got done with my 10am dosing and I got a whopping 6 pills! That's my biggest dose of the day because it includes 3 antibiotic pills, but basically I get 2 pills to stop contractions every 3 hours, two different types of anitbiotics that I get twice a day(in case there's an infection that's contributing to the labor), a prenatal vitamin, a hormone to relax my uterus, and colace twice a day since lying down all day doesn't help with digestion too much. The first couple of days they also gave me a sleeping pill at night since the blood pressure cuff monitored every half hour and my IV was super noisy, but I've graduated from those now so I can sleep much better(besides being woken up at 10,12,3,4,and 6 to take medicine during the night or have my temp and blood pressure checked). I guess this is good training for waking up with a baby right? The bad news is that when this medicine stops being effective enough on the contractions they're going to up my medicine to alternating between the two kinds every 2 hours. Whew. But at least I'm not getting poked anymore, the first day I had an IV, the horribly painful steroid shots, blood taken twice, and a terbutaline shot to stop contractions, so that day I just felt like a big pin cushion. Easton thought the IV was the most amazing thing in the world though and asked the nurse a thousand questions about it and what it was doing and why I had a straw in my arm. He was so disappointed when it was gone. I was also hooked up to the blood pressure, contraction, and baby's heart monitor for the first few days and I LOVED getting to hear his strong little heart beating all the time. Now they just do it for one hour twice a day, but I sure love that time! Keep keepin' on baby!
I think I should explain a little bit about why I'm here and why I'm taking all this medicine since I thought I understood but now I'm realizing I wasn't quite as clear as I thought. The "anti-contraction" medicine I'm taking is actually heart medication and asthma medicine, but they've found that it works to relax the uterus so they give it for that. The problem is there are some side effects, like I'm so shaky all day I can't even put makeup on and I have a hard time scooping up my food sometimes, so if I had thing to do that could be problematic, but since I'm just laying here it's worth it to keep him in. One of the medicines lowers my blood pressure so headaches and dizziness are common, although I haven't had too hard of a time, and the other one raises my pulse so that I get flushed and feel like my heart is racing, but I really only had those reactions the first couple of days I was on it and now I'm fine. Jonathan came in the first night after I started the pill form and got a shot of it and my pulse jumped up to 147 so the nurse told him he had to leave. Ah, true love :). It went down after a minute though so he got to stay. They're trying to relax my uterus enough to keep it from going into labor with these medicines though, because the last two options have much more side effects. The first is Indicine(sp?) which make the baby not pee as much, so they can only do that one for a couple of days, and the last resort is magnesium sulfate, which relaxes all your intestines so that you generally just feel sick and you can't eat anything while you're on it, and sometimes they can keep you on it for weeks if they need to, so all you get is an IV and I think liquids. Bah that doesn't sound fun at all, not that I'm loving the hospital food or anything, but I'd definitely like the option of eating. So we're hoping that I can avoid those for as long as possible, but I'll be honest, I keep having "episodes" of contractions that last up to a few hours and each day they get closer together. Friday I had a couple hours of every 9 minutes and then yesterday it was every 5 minutes, so I'm worried that they're going to increase the medicine soon. They said there's no way of completely stopping them, they're just putting off labor as long as possible, so once they get too close together and the medicines aren't helping they'll have to hit them with something new, but the fine line is to not up the dosage too early or my body will get used to it quicker, but not do it too late that I've gone too far and there's nothing they can do to stop it. Poor doctors, I am such a problem patient.
Well, if you couldn't tell by this post I am pretty bored these days and miss talking to people, although the nurses are super nice! And Jonathan has tried to be here as much as possible. He spent all day Friday and Saturday studying here and even slept over last night, so that's been nice to have company, but this week I'm sure he'll be busier than ever with finals. I'm pretty nosy too and I love to know all the details about what's going on with people, so I thought somebody else out there might want to know too, even though after reading this you may want to never hear the words "uterus" or "contractions" again. But could somebody help me out with my pictures? Every time I try to upload one it says "Sorry, your file is too big." How can it say that on every picture? I even tried to put one as the background and it wouldn't work. Any advice?? I promise we do actually do fun things that I take pictures of, I just am always to busy to blog and then when I finally get around to it something like this happens and I just give up, so if anyone knows what to do let me know!

Changes

2011-11-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

Wow, not even one week since my last post and SO much has changed! On Saturday I started having more contractions, they got worse Sunday and Monday I was still having them when I went to my appointment with the perinatologist(a specialist for high risk women). He measured my cervix and found it had shrunk from 3.2 cm to 1.6. Yikes. Basically 3-4 cm is good, 2.5-3 is short but still considered okay, and anything under that is immedite bedrest. I originally got placed on bedrest because mine was at 2.5, but the bedrest and anti-contraction medication brought it up to 3.2, so they kept me on it since it was working so well. Well, it was a scary thing to see it shrunk down so far in one week. I couldn't stop shaking as the ultrasound tech checked the baby's size, weight, and organ function to make sure he was okay. He weighed in at an estimated 1 lb 13 oz, not exactly the size I want my newborn to be, but most of his measurements are a week ahead so that's good that he's a big boy. The doctor said he wanted to admit me to the hospital and try a new anti-contraction medicine on me, but I'd have to stay a few days to make sure it worked. Since my mom has been staying in town helping us, she dropped the boys off at my cousin Cori's house and took me to the hospital. As I got there, I started having lower back pain, cramping, and pressure, so obviously I was getting pretty freaked out. When the nurse in labor and delivery hooked me up to the monitor I was having contractions every 2-4 minutes, definitely not helping the situation. She quickly gave me the new medicine, but after an hour it wasn't helping so she gave me a shot of it to make it work faster. Finally they started getting less painful and farther apart. The new medicine seemed to work fairly well for the rest of the day and into the next, but by Tuesday evening I was starting to have more contractions and uterine irritability. By the next day they were almost constant and getting stronger. My ob came in today(wednesday) and checked me and luckily my cervix isn't dilated, but it is very soft and has moved to an anterior position, which precedes labor. A few hours later the perinatologist came to do an ultrasound. Before he did, he talked to us about how the medicines are obviously not stopping the contractions, which by this point were about every 7 minutes. He said they are no longer trying to stop them since there doesn't seem to be a way to, but they're just trying to reduce the number of them. Eventually my body will override all the medicine they throw at it and it will just go into full-blown labor, they're just trying to delay that as long as possible. At this point, his survival rate is high, but his risk of having long term brain damage like cerebral palsy is 30%. At 28 weeks, it drops to 3% so that's our goal right now. The good news is he did an ultrasound and found that my cervix had actually lengthened to 2.6 cm, which is absolutely incredible!(thanks to all those wondrous prayers from everyone!) He said the hospital bedrest and medicine is helping it, so they're keeping me in here until 28 weeks to give the babe a better shot. After that they'll evaluate how I'm doing and see if I can go home or if they'll keep me longer. So good news and bad news, but I feel really good about everything now, just hoping to squeeze in a couple more weeks! I feel really blessed already, since I've been able to hold off the contractions since 22 weeks. Also the doctor said that if he had sent me home Monday instead of sending me to the hospital, I could have very well had the baby that day since things were headed that direction fast. Every day counts now so we're so grateful to have even made it this far! Now hoping for a little bit longer!My family came down for Thanksgiving weekend, so they've been entertaining the boys and at the end of the week they'll take them home with them. Jonathan will have finals for 2 more weeks and will be done the day I hit 28 weeks, so we'll be able to bring the boys back down and hopefully I'll be doing well enough I can come home then, too! Ugh I am going to miss those boys soooooo much! I'm so depressed thinking about it! But it will be tons of fun for them and much less stressful on Jonathan trying to study for finals. And less stressful for me, which is always good when we're trying not to induce contractions. So that's where things stand right now, I'll try and update more as there are new developments. Our hopes are high and we're thinking as positively as possible and trying to set little goals along the way so we don't think about the fact that he's not even due till March 1st, over 3 months away! But if we make it to Dec 8, 28 weeks, I will be very very happy! I remember when all this started a month ago and at 23 wks when we got the positive ffn test, and the thought that he might be born too early to even have a shot at surviving was so hard to bear, so we're so happy to have made it this far where his survival chances are 80-90%! We're so grateful for everyone's kind words and deeds and help and prayers and just how thoughtful everyone has been! Thanks so much!

Top 10 things I haven't blogged about in the past year...

2011-11-11T15:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I put off blogging all the time because I hate uploading pictures. I only have about 526,784,893 pictures from the past year and I finally decided I would upload them, but what do ya know, I keep getting error messages so I'm bagging it and just doing a pictureless post! So here we go to our top ten, in no particular order:

1. Celebrated everyone's birthdays!(obviously :)) Easton is a big 3 year old, Caden just turned 2 a few months ago, and I hit my quarter century mark! Big Dada is now 2 years away from the big 3-0! We got to celebrate all of our birthdays in Utah with family which was the best present of all!

2. Jonathan finished his first year of law school! Only two to go! I can't imagine what it will be like when we're not in school. I'm thinking not having homework on weekends will be nice, but I'm going to miss him getting 6 weeks off for Christmas break. THAT is a pretty sweet perk.

3. We spent all of Christmas break in Utah with family, literally leaving right after he finished his last final and not getting back till the day before he started the new semester. It was so much fun to have a white Christmas, I haven't adjusted yet to looking out the window at the palm trees and blue sky when I'm listening to Christmas music. It just feels so weird still. But besides that we absolutely LOVE the weather. There are splash parks everywhere and last year we went to the pool up until November! We even got a sunburn in our t-shirts at the Christmas parade in December. It really is nice to be able to go to the park any time you want, but sometimes I do wish we could just have a few weeks of snow and cold, then back to 70s. That would rock.

4. We got to go to Hawaii! My dad had a ton of skymiles so my parents decided that the perfect Christmas gift for everyone would be a trip to Hawaii! It was amazing of course. They rented a little townhouse on the beach (totally the way to go) and we had a ball snorkeling, sight seeing, playing in the waves, and just hanging out together. The boys ask almost every day still when we got to go back to Hawaii. Those silly little boys would only get in the very edge of the water, they mostly wanted to play in the sand and throw rocks. But Easton says that when he's a 4-year-old (in a few months) he'll go out snorkeling. We'll see if that happens :)

5. I ran my first ever half-marathon in March! I'd never run more than 5 miles and I started running with my friend McCall who has run a couple of marathons. She inspired me so I started training and realized it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In fact I started enjoying running 10+ miles! Weird. Anyway, we ran a half and I was continuing to train for a full, but I got injured so it looks like for now my marathon dreams will have to wait till next year.

6. We also got to spend the whole summer in Utah with family! Jonathan did an internship for a judge and worked part-time at an apartment managing company (thanks to Robin for getting him that job!). It was soooo much fun to spend a few months with family after being away. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and are so grateful to our families for letting us come stay.

7. Easton started preschool! And so did I! My friend McCall used to be a preschool and kindergarten teacher and she wanted to start a preschool so we decided to start one together. It is sooo much fun! We started small last year with just a few kids but this year it's grown to 13 kids including Easton. We've had so much fun and it's amazing to see the kids learning and growing and realize how much they're picking up! Easton loves it and wishes we had it everyday! The kids are so cute, I never dreamed I would enjoy teaching as much as I do, but I love it!

8. We got two new brothers-in-law! Jonathan's sisters Jocelyn and Whitney, who have been roommates and best friends since Jocelyn graduated, ended up getting married within a few months of each other! Right around Whitney's wedding we also got a new cousin on the Peck side and in March of next year we'll be getting our first cousin on the Harward side from my brother David and his wife Robin! Yay!

9. WE will also be having a new baby brother in our family! I know this is kind of old news now, but it definitely goes in the top ten :) Easton cried and cried when he found out it was going to be a brother, he wants a sister sooo bad! He wants a sister so he can cuddle her and kiss her and feed her a bottle, which I tried to tell him he can do with a brother but he really doesn't believe me. We actually had a little ultrasound earlier where the dr. guessed it was a girl, but said he was only 70% sure because it was so early and the image was so poor, but we had a big ultrasound the next week and found out it was actually a boy! Poor Easton had been so excited that it was a girl that it was a big letdown for him, but the weird thing was I was actually relieved. (The entire pregnancy I thought it was a girl, I was so much sicker and for so much longer that I figured it must be. And I had really bad acne, which I never got at all with the boys. Surprise, surprise! All 3 of my pregnancies have been totally different and yet they're all boys!) So after the dr said it was a girl the first time, I went home and started putting some baby boy things away and I actually started crying because I suddenly wanted it to be a boy! Weird huh? Well, I got my wish, and I was sooo excited when it turned out to be a boy after all! The funny thing is that even after the dr said he was 70% sure it was a girl, Jonathan still insisted it was a boy. He's usually always right about these things. And now my brother and his wife are having a boy too! So we'll have two little boy cousins just a few months apart! Yay!

10. As most of you also already know, this pregnancy is not going the way we hoped and planned. Both of our other boys were completely unplanned and I liked it that way, but after Caden surprised us ten weeks early I decided this one would have to be more strategic, especially since Jonathan was in law school. We waited a little bit to get pregnant so if I had an incompetent cervix it would have time to get stronger and then planned his due date so that I would be 28 weeks at the beginning of Jonathan's Christmas break and a little over 33 weeks when he went back, thus covering the time period we figured I would most likely be on bedrest and also the time period the baby might come. I thought we were being really smart and had it all worked out and there was no way I would be on bedrest before then. After all, with Caden I was jogging 4 miles a day and taking no medicine or anything and he stayed in till 30 weeks, so I figured for sure with seeing a specialist, taking things easy, and being on medicine this baby would stay in much longer. Well, I started seeing a perinatologist and found my cervix was normal, although on the short end, so he put me on progesterone hormone. That seemed to work till my 22 week appointment, when he found it had gotten shorter. I'd also been having some pain for a few days before so he put me on modified bedrest and a low dose of anti contraction medicine and told me to double the dose if the pain kept up. Everything was fine for a few days, then the contractions got worse and worse till I ended up in labor & delivery with hard contractions every 5-8 minutes. The nurse was trying to get a hold of my doctor to see what he wanted me to do when they started to become irregular and not so strong, so they told me I could go home and see if I could make it till my next appointment which was a few days later. I had doubled my medicine dosage but still had small, irregular contractions all weekend till my appointment this past Monday. The perinatologist checked my cervix and it had gotten a little longer with the bedrest so he told me I would be on full bedrest the rest of the pregnancy and he also upped my contraction medicine to the highest dosage. They did a fetal fibronectin test, which I'm not entirely sure what it tests, but I think it's to see if the fibers around your uterus are starting to come out, meaning labor is beginning. A negative result means you basically have no chance of delivering within the next two weeks, a positive means a 30% chance, since it could be starting several weeks before you actually deliver. Well, mine came back positive, so even though there is still a 70% chance I won't deliver before I hit 25 weeks, they gave me steroid shots to help his lungs develop faster in case he does come sooner, giving him a better chance at surviving.(Can I just say, these shots are the most PAINFUL shots I have ever had in my life, and I'm not a sissy when it comes to stuff like that! It's the medicine that hurts, so you can feel it burning as it goes in and it continues to burn for about an hour after and then aches the rest of the day. But definitely worth it if he comes soon!) So as of right now, I'm 24 weeks and 1 day and I'm hoping to make it at least a few more weeks. At 26 weeks the survival rate is about 90% so that would be awesome, although we'd definitely love to last longer. I think I'm just nervous since I'm already on bedrest and the highest dose of contraction medicine and the hormones to help my cervix and I'm still struggling with contractions. I just feel like my body is trying to override everything we throw at it, but like my doctor said, every day he stays in is worth 3 days in the NICU and gives him a much better chance, so even a week more is extremely beneficial. A nurse is coming by tomorrow to hook me up to a wireless at-home contraction monitor so they can watch me and let me know if they think I need to go in. The next step would be to be on hospital bedrest, but if I am in the hospital they can give me an even stronger medicine for contractions so that will give him even more time to grow. Hopefully that doesn't come too soon though, I'm not ready to be stuck in a hospital bed all day. Well, that's basically where we stand right now. I wish I was even just a few weeks farther along, but it's so amazing what they can do medically these days that I'm grateful I'm as far as I am. It can always be worse! I am especially grateful to all of our friends, family, and ward members! They have been amazing and incredible and taken care of my every need without even being asked. We feel so blessed to be surrounded by such good people and I feel awful because I can't even make them cookies to say thank you, but what goes around comes around so I hope I get a turn to return the service that they've shown to me. Especially Jonathan, he's in his last few weeks of school and has had to be the single dad, take care of the house, take care of me, do his callings, and everything else. I don't know how he does it. I remember thinking that it would be kind of fun for me to be on bedrest because then he would get to see what being a mom was like, but now I realize I was totally wrong because he is so helpful and all I do is lay on the couch and make more work for him since he is always getting me things and taking me to appointments. I just hope he breaks his leg or something someday so that he's laid up and I get to do everything for him while he just sits and reads and watches movies. That would be great. :)
Well this is way longer that I intended, but I just wanted to let everyone know the details since I love to hear all the details about stuff like this when it happens to other people! And I wanted to tell everyone thank you, for all your service and all your prayers! Every single person that has said they're thinking of us or praying for us has really made a difference. I remember what a comfort that was after we had Caden and it definitely is now too! Thank you all so much! I will hopefully update this a little more often and get some pictures on next time. Seriously, it's not like I have much else to do right? :)

Trampolines are for...

2010-11-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

Bonding with cousins....

Flying...

And a little bit of sleeping. But let's face it- at a trampoline slumber party with the whole fam (grandparents included!) sleeping is probably at the bottom of the list.

Especially for little Mylee! She and I were the only ones who stayed up till 2 am so we could watch ALL of Pete's Dragon. Woot woot, go Mylee!

It was so much fun and we're so excited for next summer!!!

Cupcakes for Cancer

2010-11-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we participated in the Cupcakes for Cancer fundraiser. A little boy in our ward was recently diagnosed with cancer and so some ward members got together and put on a 5k, fun run, all out party to raise money for his family. Awesomest ward ever right? Right. Everything was donated and there was tons to do! First they had a race for the little kids. (These aren't exactly in the right order, I'm terrible at this blogging stuff!)
Here's Easton and his T-buddy getting ready for the race. They were so excited to run like Lightning McQueen!
Here's the starting line. All the kids look pretty intense huh?

Here they are racing! Where's Easton? (look to the far right)

Did he pull an amazing win off? Nope, he came in dead last :)

In fact, he didn't even finish. He got distracted by the bounce house that was along the way.

Here the two boys are halfway down the race way just waiting to go in the bounce house.

Silly boys. I guess we'll hold off on those Olympic Sprint team dreams. But we might enter him in some eating competitions. As the name of the event indicates, there were plenty of cupcakes to be enjoyed! And boy howdy did the boys enjoy them!

They also got to ride the "train." A guy in our ward made this train for his kids and he brings it to a lot of ward activities and it is a huge hit! We're totally going to steal the idea and make one someday when we have a 4wheeler!

First I rode with both boys and then Easton wanted to go with his bud, all by themselves. What big boys! Lately everything is " I do it all by myself." I like this stage, independence is a good thing, even if getting there means quite a few big messes while he figures it out, it's fun to see him learn!

There was also a 5k which we all ran together. All as in all 4 of us! (Jonathan did most of the pushing. He let me push it down the home stretch so it looked like I did some too. He's the best. And the funniest.)

Here are the cupcakes in all their glory!

They look great huh? And Einstein Bagels donated a bunch of bagels, so next time you need a morning snack, pick them! They rock.

Where we live there are plenty of fields around, so of course my boys can always be found here:

Throwing Rocks. Usually not even at anything. They are just always sitting there throwing them. Whenever we go hiking Caden sits and screams his head off to get out of the backpack the whole time because he can't handle the sight of so many beautiful rocks just lying there tempting him. Good thing I don't mind if they get a little dirty, because it's a daily thing.

They did get to play in the bounce house for quite a while and loved it.

The whole event was awesome and we're so happy to live in such a great ward. Seriously, we love it. Jonathan has one day of classes left and then two weeks of finals and he is DONE with his first semester of law school! Whoopee! It's not too bad, we see him a lot more than I thought we would and even when we don't there is so much to do I never get bored. The boys get more and more fun each day and I love having Easton talking so much because I feel like I have a little best friend with me all the time that I can talk to and they can actually understand and respond. And now that Cade can walk they chase each other around the house all the time, I think I really like this whole brothers thing. Each night we tell Easton a made-up story before he goes to bed and it's always about adventures he goes on with his best-brother-friend Caden. He loves it.

I forgot to mention before, and this is really late, but Jonathan and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary in April! I'm so grateful for him and I try everyday to be more like him. My mind boggles at my stroke of luck that he actually picked me to be with him forever. YES!!!! I'm so excited for every day that I get to spend with him! He makes me happier than I ever knew I could be. Love you sweetie!

One-year pictures

2010-10-22T19:42:00.000-07:00

Turned out pretty cute.

That tongue is always there... I love it!

Big Brother tagged along so he got some pics, too!

Some of the other law students wives have started a photography business so they took some pics of the boys. They did so awesome so if you're in the last vegas area and are in need of a photographer... their blog is csquaredphoto.blogspot.com. Thanks girls!

Our baby is One!

2010-09-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

You know how I roll- his birthday was almost two months ago! But it was a blast! We had a little party with our little family of four at home on his birthday, but the real bash came the next week when I went home for a visit. We had Caden's grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins over and had an awesome party.

The food was delicious! ( and adorable- thanks mom and robin!)

The toys were PLENTIFUL! Thanks everybody!

Easton keeps asking when it's going to be his birthday so he can get new toys :)

Caden can read! Haha!

But the company was the best!!! The boys had a blast seeing everyone!

We had so so so soooo much fun! Caden falls in the middle of a three-month run of birthdays in our family- me in July, Cade in August, and Jonathan in September. My birthday was awesome. We went to Seven Peaks, played all day, and went out to dinner just me and jp at night. Caden's birthday was obviously a blast, and Jonathan got to celebrate his birthday for a week straight! We had a little family party on his birthday and he chose Mac and Cheese for his birthday dinner. :) Silly boy. Then we met up with my family in St. George for conference weekend and had another little party for him. Then I threw a little surprise for him the next week and invited a bunch of our friends over. Now we have quite a wait for little E-baby to have his birthday. It's funny to explain to him that Christmas will be before his birthday, because he doesn't really understand that he's going to get presents then too!

Oh, and before I forget... Caden can walk!!! He has been walking between furniture for a month or so and just last week decided he was brave enough to let go and try walking and he's doing it! Now he never crawls and he and Easton are having a blast running around chasing each other. I love it! We're really enjoying LV and our friends here, in fact, so much that I decided to take a few days off last week and skip all the playgroups, library storytimes, and unnecessary trips to the grocery store and just play with my boys. I LOVE my boys and spending all day with them!

OBX

2010-09-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

This summer we were able to take one of the most amazing trips I've ever been on! My brother-in-law graduated from dental school so we all flew out and took a celebration trip down to Outer Banks, NC. (Corolla, NC to be exact) I went once in high school with Ruby so I was soooo excited to go back! The awesome in-laws rented out a sweet beach house just a short walk from the beach. Here's the view from the deck. And when I say deck, I mean the top deck, because don't worry, this house was three stories and had a wrap around deck around the second and third floor, complete with hot tub on the top deck and pool in the backyard. (Can't find my pics of the house so they'll have to go on later.) Here's some fun pics from the trip.

Two of my favorite boys in the world!

Sweetest playhouse ever! I so want one in my backyard when we have a house!

The whole gang sitting on the deck on the last day. (Minus the eldest Peck's family- we missed them so much and hope they can come next time!!!)

CHECK OUT THESE WAVES! Huge! Seriously you swam out and looked UP at the wave that was about the crash onto your head and thought, "I'm gonna die!" A few times I got slammed down into the sand and actually got some scrapes from it. It was intense. One night Jonathan and I went out on a romantic moonlight boogie boarding run together and I was a little scared sometimes that we were going to get knocked out and swept out to sea. Probably one of the most fun things I've ever done.

Here are the two lovebirds that made this all possible. Thanks Grandma Kate and Grandpa Dave! We love you!

The cousins had so much fun together!

Jonathan is so obsessed with me that he wears shirts with my initials on them. Okay okay, maybe it's really lake powell, but it secretly stands for my name.

I know this pic is on here twice. Don't hate, our right-clicker's broken and I have tried every other way to delete it and can't. Just enjoy it again, it's cute enough to see twice.

The beach view.

The shore view.

Trying to make Easton like riding on the boogie board. It worked until a wave knocked him over and under the water. After that he wasn't having any more of that.

And lastly, I think my father-in-law could give David Hasselhoff a run for his money. He can dance better,too. You should have seen him at the Christmas party last year! No wonder he's the apple of Kathy's eye!

We had a BLAST and cannot wait to go again, because yes, there will be an again! Yay!

Post-less

2010-09-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

From the looks of our blog, we've had a boring, uneventful summer. NOT SO! In fact, it's been so jammed with excitement that I haven't had a chance to update, but I am going to attempt to do an entire summer in a few days. Just thought I would let you know that we are alive and well and having so much fun we don't even have time to catch our breath! Vegas is.... growing on us. But don't think that means we're not coming back! Because we ARE! I love traveling, but I love returning "home" to our families. There's nothing better than getting to see the boys so close with their grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles and having them see all their fun stages. We're also big fans of Sunday dinner and the game nights that follow so we'll definitely have to return for those! But Vegas does have it's plusses:

- Amazingly, I CAN go to the park in 108* weather. All the parks down there have splashpads so you can play in the playground and when you get hot run over and cool off then run back and play some more. They are also all mostly shaded so it doesn't get too hot. Oh, and the wind always blows where we live so it keeps you cool.
- Our apartment has 2 pools and 2 hot tubs (much to Easton's delight. He could live in the hot tub.)
- Our ward is AMAZING! Seriously, I have never been in a ward before where so many people come up and meet me. My first day there they gave me a calendar with activities that they do every day and there are tons of moms with little kids that always want to do playdates so we've made many good friends already. I really can't express how much we LOVE our ward.
- Jonathan's schedule is not as bad as I thought it would be. He actually spends a good chunk of time studying at home so I see him a lot. And he always has dinner with us and kicks me out of the kitchen so he can clean up after! (Awww... love him.) We've just started so I'm prepared that it will probably get worse, but right now it's better than I anticipated so that's good!
- "Home" is not as far away as I thought. My sisters and I made it there is 5 1/2 hours, and that's with dropping Ashlee off in East Provo! So I don't feel so far away.
- They have some definite benefits that Utah lacks. H&M, Panera Bread, Cici's Pizza Buffet...
- I'm only 4 hours from the beach. Don't know how often we'll take advantage of that, but it's there.
- The sun sets at 7:30 pm right now. We've adjusted our schedules to getting up at 6 and going to bed between 9-10, with the boys going down at 6:30 for Caden and 7:30 for Easton and it is actually really really nice. We love the whole early to bed, early to rise thing. In fact, I was running errands the other day and stopped by a store and was surprised to see it was closed... till I realized it was only 7:45! Jonathan leaves early to study so that he can come home for dinner so it's been nice to have our whole family be on the same schedule of getting up early and getting to bed early, and the early sun down has definitely helped that!
- No sales tax on food! But their car registration rates alone make up for that!
- When we did the free channel add on our tv to just add the channels you pick up with the whole HD thing, we got 420 channels! Half are in spanish or fuzzy, but we get a few good ones, like food network and tlc and some movie channels. Oh, and of course we pick up 3 espn channels! Somebody must have been being a really good boy.

Anyway, it's going pretty good, but I'm still homesick. One thing I hate about Vegas is having to cover your eyes every ten seconds on the freeway. Jonathan takes a non-freeway route to school that doesn't have many dirty signs, so that's good, but I think Easton is picking up on it because the other day he showed me a picture of the green girl M&M and said, "Mom, she doesn't have any clothes on!" I could definitely do without that trash but at least where we live we are far away from it so we only see it if we go downtown. The other thing we dislike is the crime. Our GPS got stolen within 24 hours of moving there- as I was loading things in the car! So someone must have been watching and hurried out right after I took a load out and taken it! Scary, and we live in a gated community! Needless to say, we don't feel super safe so our doors and windows are locked all the time whether we're home or not and I think we're going to put another lock on our door, but people down there tell me there's really no way to completely escape the crime, but I think we're about as far as we can get from it so that's good. So I'll try over the next few days to upload all our fun activites from the summer! This amazingly hot man takes our computer with him to school everyday so it will be kind of slow, but we'll get 'er done!

What happens at Grandpa and Grandma's....

2010-07-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

These pictures are in sequential order.
First a little taste...

And he just can't get enough!

I knew we had a sugar addict on our hands!

Changes

2010-07-10T17:48:00.000-07:00

It seems like everything is changing at our house lately! Jonathan got into UNLV Law School so we'll be moving to Las Vegas in a couple weeks! Luckily, he got a mondo-huge scholarship so I won't have to see this anymore since we'll actually be able to afford a place with air conditioning.

Don't worry, my awesome brother came over and saw this so he brought me his window unit and now our butter only gets slightly sweaty instead of completely melted.
Baby Cade is also changing a ton! He is super smiley most of the time and loves to laugh!

We've been enjoying the heat! Especially Cado! He is much braver than Easton and will stick his face right in the sprinklers while Easton runs away screaming! Silly boy!

The bathrooom scale says that somebody has had too many of these! And it's not the person pictured with one. (Although that's not really anything new is it?)

Easton is as silly and loving as ever. I can't get over how much fun it is to hear him talk and half my day is spent laughing at the funny things he says. He LOVES his baby and always tries to get him to sing songs with him and play games.

He LOVES smelling and watering Grandma's flowers.

Caden is as adorable as ever and is finally starting to scoot. Occasionally he'll do it on his stomach, but mostly he pulls himself around on his bum. He is still a pretty bad sleeper and sometimes still wakes up every two hours, but usually I'll get a 4 hour stretch of sleep. Weird though, yesterday he went to sleep at 4:30 in the afternoon and slept till 6:30 am! And he only woke up once to eat at 3 am. And then he went back to sleep at 8 am and slept for two and a half hours! Maybe he never sleeps at night and then crams it in to one 24-hour period. Who knows? I thought I knew a lot after Easton but this is a totally different child! :) (and we love him so!)

We spend TONS of time playing with grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles and the boys are always so excited to see all of them!

This year we're getting two new brother-in-laws and a new cousin(#5 for that Peck family!). Joc is adding Reed to the picture and Whitney is adding Brenton. Here are the two love birds!

We are going to miss our family SSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOO much and I'm sure we'll be back up visiting as often as possible, but if anyone needs a place to stay in Vegas, we would LOVE the company!!!

Easter... in May

2010-05-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

What an Easter it was.
5 egg hunts
too much candy
dying eggs
tons of family time
SNOW
General Conference
bunny ears and a little chick costume (pics to come)
the adult hunt for $$ was by far the most intense
and one 2-year-old who asks to find eggs every day now.
We can't wait for next year!

Easton's favorite part.

This was Easton's face at the city hunt when we told him he had to wait for the whistle to go get eggs. :)

We've been up to...

2010-04-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

Playing at parks, feeding "gucks," and just having fun! Apparently we've been enjoying a little too much sunshine because the first comment everyone makes when they see my kids is "Wow, they are tan." I need to use more sunscreen, but I don't think it will make a difference since we spend all day outside anyway. But what are we supposed to do, sit inside when it's gorgeous out? It's supposed to snow the rest of this week though, so I guess we'll have a chance to whiten up a little. And go out to build another snow fort.

I am so in love with my boys lately. Easton is the most darling little thing ever. I think he hit the terrible twos at about 18 months and then got over it when he turned two, I just can't believe how good he is! There have been a lot of times lately when kids will take away his toys or hit him and he does nothing back. It makes me happy since I won't have to worry about him being a bully. He is a joy and I LOVE being his mom.

Easton is also growing up a lot lately and it makes me kind of sad. He's losing some of his baby words. Now he says "double" instead of "bow bow" for W, "kitty" instead of "meow" and he also is starting to say Grandma and Grandpa instead of "poppa" and "da hun"(which is what he calls my mom since my dad calls her "hun") and "maama Kate"(Jonathan's mom). At least he still says "hud" for hug. That one makes me smile.

Caden is a little copycat. He has to be doing EVERYTHING that Easton does and be right next to his big brother. It is so cute though to watch them together. They love to laugh at each other and will just sit and make each other laugh for half an hour straight. Caden just turned 8 months and is about 19 lbs. He isn't crawling, but my neighbor had twin girls 2 weeks earlier than Caden and she said they didn't crawl till 12 months, so we might have a while still. It's okay though, he is such a tubby little joy that I can wait a little longer for him to be mobile and lose his baby fat, I'm just not sure HE can wait that long. He still isn't sleeping well and we've tried a few different methods and nothing has worked, so he and I are not eating dairy and wheat for a few weeks to see if that makes a difference. We already know that he is allergic to squash so we're wondering if he could be being bothered by other foods as well. I was sensitive to dairy as a child and so I was a horrible sleeper so maybe he has the same problem. I don't know how I'm going to handle giving up chocolate completely, but it's worth it if we can start sleeping again.

I love my 3 boys so much and love being a mom. The other night Jonathan and I were talking about where we would be if we didn't have kids yet, and we both decided that all the other things we want to do like travel, have a house, go on dates whenever we want without getting a babysitter, sleep through the night... none of those are worth the joy these little guys bring us.

Sweet Find

2010-04-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

DI + $2= Awesome

6 months and chuuuuuuuuubby!

2010-02-28T17:16:00.000-08:00

I know, my blogs have 5 million pictures, but I'm just so madly in love with these boys I think every picture is too cute to not share! So one major thing I've learned from this second little man is that every kid is different, and I'm not sure Caden and Easton could be any MORE different! Here's a few fun things about Caden at this age and a little comparison of the two of them. Not that one is better than the other, they are just very different. Enjoy!
-I think we have a budding Chocoholic! Caden LOVES things to be sweet! He hates formula because it's not as sweet as milk and won't eat rice cereal unless it has bananas or applesauce or something else sweet in it. Easton, on the other hand, ate whatever I gave him. We fed him marinated artichoke hearts at 11 months and he downed them! Seriously he'll eat almost anything, but he doesn't really have a sweet tooth. I took him to Krispy Kreme this morning and he only ate half his donut and then gave it back to me. Little Cado Potato Head is a different story, though. I just really hope that doesn't mean he's going to be picky!
-Not sleepin' so good yet :( Unfortunately he still gets up 2-3 times a night to nurse, which is very different from Easton who slept through the night at 6 weeks! On the other hand, he goes to sleep on his own! Since we brought him home, I've made sure to just put him in his bed when he's tired instead of nursing or rocking him to sleep and it's so nice because he usually just goes to sleep by himself and I just put him down, say goodnight, then check on him a little while later to make sure he went down okay! Such a difference from Easton who had to be fed till he was 100% asleep! I definitely recommend every new mom do this!
-He is the happiest little thing ever! Seriously he is ALWAYS smiling! He loves loves loves to be talked to and all you have to do sometimes is look at him and he'll just bust up giggling. It's so much fun! Easton was pretty mellow and chill, happy but just content, while I think Caden is going to be a little bundle of giggly energy!
-Much more emotional On that topic, he is also more emotional when he is upset. Easton didn't cry at all till he was about 2 months old. Seriously. I came home one day and he was crying and me and Jonathan were shocked. He was just so chill. Caden, on the other hand, has opinions about everything and wants to share! So I think he is going to be a bit more opinionated and emotional than Easton.
-Wants to be a big boy Caden wants to be big. If Easton has a cup and is within reach, Caden will try to snatch it from him and drink out of it. And I started feeding him cereal a week ago and he already grabs the spoon from me and tries to feed himself. Oh, and I've heard of babies who don't like nursing but I couldn't believe it was true since Easton LOVED it so much. Well, Caden has never liked it and will only nurse if he's starving or tired. When he gets shots they tell me I can nurse him after to calm him but that's the last thing he wants when he's upset. Oh boy, I'm nervous that as he starts eating more food he will quit nursing completely!
-No pain tolerance at all Self-explanatory. Any tiny scratch, bump, or anything gets a scream fest. When he gets his RSV shots once a month they have me wait ten minutes in the room to make sure he doesn't have a reaction to them, and he screams the entire ten minutes and won't calm down for anything! Very different from Easton, who had massive pain tolerance.
-He is FAT! Okay, this little preemie who was born at 30 weeks just got moved from the preemie growth charts to the full-term charts because he was in the 97% for height and the 75% for weight! So compared with normal 6-month olds he is in the 50% for weight and the 75% for height! He's 16 pounds! What a little chunk! He gains about a pound a month. This is totally totally different from Easton who was in the 10% forever and then started moving up but has never gone above 40%! I find this really ironic, especially because Caden hates bottles and nursing so up until now we've basically had to force feed him. I have no idea how he got so big, but I LOVE it! Chubby little rolls and so fun!
Two boys is soo much fun! So much that I am even thinking that I want another boy next so they can be three little friends together!(don't worry, this is not a pregnancy announcement! Just thoughts for when we have another one.) Here are some cute little pics from our little man's life thus far:

I love Easton's face when we first put Caden in the car to take him home from the hospital! You can just see the confusion.

Check out these chubby cheeks. He was barely over 5 lbs in this picture, and I think half of it was in his cheeks! The rest of his body was tiny!

These pictures are mostly in order from earliest to most current.

From so tiny (barely over 3 lbs in the last pics) to SOOOOO CUTE!!! I might be slightly partial, but I think he's GORGEOUS!

We love him more than words can express and are sooooooooo excited to have him in our family! It's so funny, but now I can't imagine what I did with all my spare time when I only had one! Funny, since I didn't really feel like I had a lot then. Our life is definitely more full now and I am constantly amazed at the love a mother is able to feel!

Dinner Time

2010-02-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

Don't you wish it was this much fun at your house?

2009

2010-01-29T16:03:00.000-08:00

Late, yes, oh well. We...
celebrated Easton's 1st birthday
started walking
found out I was pregnant at 2 months along
spent tons of time with family
had some girl time
went to the temple a lot
celebrated two wonderful years of marriage
Jonathan graduated and is now getting ready for law school in the fall
got my first church calling since getting married... then moved a month later
lived in 4 different apartments
visited tons of places in Virginia
fed a camel
went to a waterpark and a few farms
went to the dc zoo 3 times
rode the metro everywhere
danced in the rain
had some fun game nights
went swimming
played ultimate frisbee... and lost Jonathan's wedding ring
played with Taylee almost every day this summer
went to Nielsen's Frozen Custard & Georgetown Cupcake
had my 5-year reunion, but couldn't go
played at the park almost every day
made so many new friends
had a little surprise
and barely made it with only 10 minutes to spare for an emergency c-section
met a 3 lb. miracle...
and fell in love
spent 6 weeks "visiting" and falling more in love
received endless prayers and support
my mom came out and stayed with us for 3 weeks
got to experience natural labor... and didn't think it was too bad till the very end
finally got to come home
drove across the country with an almost 2 year old and a preemie just out of the NICU who was on a monitor and still wasn't even due for 3 more weeks!
the boys met the Kansas Pecks
Jonathan got pulled over twice... and got off both times
then he dropped his wallet at a pit stop and we realized it 10 miles down the road
but it was still there just sitting in the middle of the parking lot
our battery died at a gas station
and at this point we thought we'd had an eventful trip
then had the scariest 57 minutes of our lives, but everything turned out okay
got to go on life-flight for the first time in any of our lives
spent more time in the hospital than in all of our lives combined... 7 weeks!
got off oxygen after 2 1/2 more months on it at home
loved the little brown curly hair and dark blue eyes and super curly lashes
gave so many kisses both boys cheeks are rashy
got chubby (me and Caden that is)
saw so much strength in my husband and fell more in love than ever before
survived 2 months of colic and reflux
smiled
cooed
gurgled
laughed
and now rolled over(at 5 months!!! Meaning he's basically caught up already!)
can't even remember he was ever that small

I'm sure 2010 has many more adventures and I know that through our strength as a family and through the knowledge of the gospel we will be prepared for anything! I can't believe life could be so wonderful and I've learned so much and it seems to just keep getting better. I'm so grateful for all of our blessings and can't wait to continue life with my three boys!
Oh, and I know the pictures aren't in order, but I'm too lazy to change them all :)

Already?

2010-01-19T11:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it happened! Yesterday I became the mom of a two-year-old! My friends kept telling me how weird it was when their kids turned two and I didn't really think it would be, but when it came down to it it was a little strange feeling! I can't believe we've had Easton for two years, but then it seems like he has always been with us. I can't explain how much I love him and love being around him! I know all you veteran mothers understand, but you new moms- if you think you love them now, just wait! It is the most wonderful thing in the world and I'm so grateful to have this opportunity! Two is so much fun and as much as I love little babies, I'm already excited for Caden to be two so I can get to know him and his personality better, too! Here is a little about Easton right now:

Favorite color: blue and yellow(he went through a two-week stage where he would not wear anything but yellow shirts! If we tried to put a different color on him he would cry until we brought out one of his two yellow shirts and then he would squeal with excitement "wewow!" So cute!)
Favorite number: 6
Favorite letters: E, O, P, T
Favorite foods: tomatoes, cheese, yogurt, milk, smoothies, cheerios, apples, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, chicken, pasta, black beans, nuts, clam chowder
Favorite movies: Cars, Up, Little Einsteins, Cricket on the Hearth, Clifford, Curious George, Berenstain Bears
Favorite Songs: I See the Moon, ABCs, Old McDonald, I Am A Child of God
Favorite Activities: Running, playing with any balls, reading, bubbles, playing with cars, doing laundry, playing with Caden, learning letters, visiting family
Easton is just full of surprises and loves to make us laugh. In fact, he will do things that hurt himself just to make us laugh. He is very very very loving and affectionate and I am constantly slobbered with kisses all day (and I LOVE it!). He still doesn't have the widest vocabulary but every day it seems like he's saying more and more. I'm so grateful to have him in our family and so excited to see what he is going to be like as he gets older!

FINALLY!

2010-01-06T20:46:00.000-08:00

Just a little note to let everyone know that Caden passed his oxygen test!!! At the beginning of the week a nurse called and told me the doctor had looked at his results and they were still abnormal so he'd have to be on oxygen another month. Well, I was pretty bummed and today I called and asked to have the results sent to me so I could see how he was doing. Well, after some research, they found out that the oxygen company had actually sent them the results of the December 1st test again instead of the most recent one so they had it resent and found that he is normal and fine off of oxygen! Hooray! I am so pumped! Now he's off iron supplements, reflux meds, AND oxygen! He is now not on ANYTHING! Way to go Cado!

Chunky Monkey

2009-12-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

Our little Caden is almost 4 months old! He had his checkup today and he's doing great! Unfortunately he is still supposed to be on oxygen but he'll get tested again in a week and hopefully be done with it! His last test showed he was doing really good and very close to being off but just needs to get a little stronger. We have taken him off at times though and the doctor said that it won't hurt him, but he is growing so much right now that his body needs the energy to grow instead of breathe. And boy is he growing!!! He is 11 lbs 12 oz and 23 in. long! When we brought him home two and a half months ago he was 5 lbs 5 oz and since then he has gained over 6 lbs! And it shows- he has a double chin and 2 rolls in each leg! And I love it! Easton was such always very skinny and so it is so much fun to have a chubby baby! I can't believe how adorable it is! These pics are from when he was 3 months, but he looks pretty much the same now, so I thought you might enjoy seeing what he looks like now!

Unfortunately he has developed colic so we spend a good 4-6 hours a day trying to comfort him, but he's supposed to be getting to the downhill side of it. Hopefully within the next month he'll be feeling better! But whenever he's not crying he is smiling, cooing and gurgling! I forgot how much fun this stage is! I just love it!

Caden started smiling just 3 1/2 weeks after his due date! The doctor was very surprised and said that's a really good sign! He does everything that a normal two month old should and even though physically he is closer to his adjusted age, our doctor said he is developmentally a lot closer to a 4 month old and he thinks he should catch up by 9 months! This is wonderful news, especially since we've been waiting to see any signs of brain damage from his episode of oxygen depravation on our drive home from Virginia. The doctor said he's progressing so well that he would be surprised to see any, but if he did it would probably be something mild like ADHD or a learning disorder! Apparently the brain is still growing so much at this age that sometimes when part of it is damaged the rest of it will compensate for the damaged part. Hopefully that's what is happening here! I've always felt guilty about what happened and that if he had side effects from it then it would be because I didn't take him in soon enough, so Caden's progress makes me happier than I could ever express!

Caden is very social and loves to be talked to. And his favorite person in the world is not his mama, or his dada, but his big brother! He watches everything Easton does and loves when he plays with him! Easton even threw a ball to him the other day and hit him in the head (not a hard one though, I'm sure it didn't hurt) and Caden just looked at him and smiled! When I put them in the tub together Caden just smiles and coos and talks to Easton the whole time! And Easton sure loves "my bebe." One time he woke up from a nap and Jonathan was home and he ran out to see him and stopped halfway there because he saw the baby on the couch and ran over to Caden screaming "Heeeeeey bebe!" Easton is always giving him hugs and kisses and Caden just loves it. I LOVE seeing how much they love each other and I'm so excited for them to be able to play together more!

Peck Family Pics

2009-12-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we decided to take some family pictures. By ourselves. With a tripod. It was actually a lot of fun. And between Easton wanting to play on the playground, Caden wanting to eat the entire time, and me flipping through the manual between each shot to try and adjust the settings, we ended up getting a few cute ones. Nothing professional of course, but we like 'em.
Easton was actually really cute. He would be running around while one of us held Caden and the other adjusted the camera and tripod. Then when everything was ready, one of us would hit the timer, grab him, run and sit down and he would get really excited every time and keep saying "cheese" long after the picture was taken.

I hate all the pictures where we're standing because you can see the 10 lbs. I'm still carrying in my thighs from Caden. Well, maybe not exactly from Caden, but if you were staying at the Ronald McDonald house and PANERA BREAD delivered bags and bags of pastries, muffins, brownies, and cookies every week, could you resist? Yeah, didn't think so.

So Easton developed a habit of grabbing people's ears just before we came home from Virginia. It's pretty funny and he will come up and just grab your ear for no reason all the time. What a silly little kid!

Caden is actually still on oxygen, but we took it off for each picture. This pic is what he actually looks like. Poor little cuss, doesn't he look miserable? He got monitored all night last night without the oxygen though so we'll find out if he passed and gets to be off of it tomorrow!

My Examples

2009-11-20T08:52:00.000-08:00

Wow, normally I don't post for months and now I've got two in a day! I just had to mention a few people who have been tremendous examples to me over the last few months. Mostly this is a big thank you.

Karen- she was my visiting teacher in Virginia. Not the come-by-once-a-month-and-see-how-you're-doin visiting teacher, but the real deal. The day after Caden was born she was at the hospital with a balloon and a notepad to write down everything I might need (thanks to Rose, a sweet girl in our office who notified the bishop immediately about what happened since everyone was leaving that week so we would be alone). She called me almost daily to see how Caden was doing, how I was doing, and what she could do. She offered to babysit at least a dozen times. She made us dinner in her home 4 times, brought dinner to the Ronald McDonald House once, had people bring my family dinner for the week I was in the hospital after he was born, and periodically had people from the ward invite us to their homes for dinner so that we could get out and socialize. She didn't ask "What can I do?" but instead had already thought of specific things I might need and asked about those. She had people come over and help us move. She made a list of every playgroup in the stake, where they met and what time, so that Easton could have friends and I could chat. She offered to give me rides to the hospital. She took me to Babies-R-Us so she could take care of Easton while I got what I needed. She even offered to let us stay at her house, but we ultimately decided that Ronald McDonald House would be easier. She still calls to check up on us. She was such a great friend and I will strive to emulate her example.

My Family- Besides their constant support and love, they did everything they could to help us. My mom came and stayed with us for 3 weeks while I recovered from the C-section, and my dad and brother got along at home without her for that long. Plus all my siblings came out and visited. Jonathan's parents rented a second car for us so that I would have a way to the hospital while Jonathan worked. My family moved all of our stuff into our apartment from the storage unit before we got home, cleaned everything, and restained the cabinets so it would look nicer. And when I say cleaned, I mean CLEANED! Jonathan's brother and his wife and family came up from Richmond, VA to visit and made themselves available so that we could call them anytime we might need help. My sweet mother-in-law called the NICU to see if there was anything she could do to help us get home sooner. She felt so awful she couldn't come out and was always trying to find more ways to help us from home. Both of our parents were at Primary Childrens when we got there to help with Easton and just give support. It is such a relief to be back with all of them again! They are amazing!

Jonathan- I get emotional when I think of how amazing Jonathan was through everything and how he continues to be. Part of that may be because he is out of town for work for two weeks, and even though I am staying at my parents and they're helping out a ton, I really struggle without him ad miss him. He was so positive and always told me that everything would be alright. He watched Easton every time I went to the NICU after my mom left and those two have really become best friends. In fact, I think he would make a better stay-at-home parent than I do! He gave me so much support and was so unselfish with his time and energy. I really came to appreciate him more though this. And it didn't end when we got back to Utah. He is so helpful with Caden and Easton, especially since Caden isn't sleeping. He started "Friday Night Delight" where he stays up with Caden all night on Friday so I can sleep. He will do it sometimes on other nights too if I'm really tired. And if he ever wakes up and I'm feeding Caden, he gathers all the extra pillows and sometimes his own and put them behind my back to make sure I'm comfortable. I can't imagine life without him, not just because it would be so much harder, but because he's just so cute and funny and I miss him so much while he's gone! He's my best friend and whenever I need to vent or laugh or cry, he's the first one I think of to talk to! Thank you so much sweetie for being one of my greatest examples and blessings in my life! I love you!
Of course, I also had my greatest example- my Savior. I was blessed with so much peace and happiness and felt that I was constantly guided about what I should do. I was able to feel loved from our Father and from his servants here on Earth. I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and the blessing it is. I know my life is so much better for it!

Talk about a curveball!

2009-10-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Before I get into our story, I'd like to apologize for the lack of photos again. Someday I will post pictures, but today is not that day.
When I last posted I had JUST met our little surprise- Caden Harward Peck. Now it's been almost 3 months since that crazy day and the excitement hasn't stopped. Caden progressed well in the NICU and didn't seem to have any big problems. We were so excited after 6 weeks when they said "You can probably take him home TOMORROW!" Because of the swine flu and all the other diseases floating around, the doctors didn't want us to fly Caden home, so our only other option was to DRIVE the 32-hour nonstop drive from DC to Utah with a preemie who was still a month shy of his due date and a 20-month-old who hates car trips. Does anyone else think this sounds nuts? Yeah, well we were so anxious to get home and didn't have any other options that didn't involve waiting in virginia for a while so we decided it would be a stressful few days, but we'd just do it. The doctors and nurses assured us everything would be fine and Caden had a monitor so if something was wrong we would know and of course we would be trained in infant CPR before we could take him home so we shouldn't be worried at all. Reassuring, right? Well, unfortunately the monitor was designed to only go off if his heart rate dropped dangerously low or if he quit breathing for more than 25 seconds. You'll understand why this is bad later on. So we were pretty excited on our third day of driving when he was still doing good. We had crammed in 36 hours the first two days and were in Nebraska- almost home! Easton had done amazingly well too and had only cried once for a few minutes! I think it was a blessing so we could get closer to home because at a feeding stop 4 hours from Jonathans parents house in Coalville we noticed Caden was lethargic and wouldnt really eat. He also looked a little pale so we called the NICU to see what the nurses thought. He had gotten chilled the night before in the hotel so they said it was probably just that and we should just go home and see how he was in the morning. So we kept driving and stopped again for a feeding a little over an hour away from Coalville. This time Caden looked really pale and slightly blue and was completely limp and wouldn't wake up at all. Then his monitor started going off that his heart rate was dropping too low. We decided to drive him to the hospital in Evanston which was about 60 miles away. We thought that by the time the ambulance got there we could make it to the hospital. I held Caden the whole way and patted his back and talked to him to stimulate him and any time I stopped bugging him his monitor would go off again for his heart rate dropping. Jonathan and I didn't say ten words to each other because we were both thinking that he wasn't going to make it. I have heard parents say they thought their children were going to die before but I didn't ever really understand. That has to be the worst feeling in the world. Well, we made it to the ER but they were full so they asked us to wait for a room to open up. The nurse asked if he always looked so pale and decided to check his vitals. As soon as she did she started yelling that she needed a room NOW and pulled open the closest curtain, literally pulled the man in the bed out and told him he would have to leave and put Caden on the bed and put oxygen on him. Of course when you see the nurses scared you know something is really wrong so I totally lost it, but seconds after getting oxygen, his eyes popped open and all his color returned and he started moving around. The doctor at Primary Childrens later told us we were really lucky because his oxygen saturation was only at 65% and usually when babies are that far gone they need a lot of recussitation to bring them back. Well, they had him lifeflighted to Primary Childrens and we jumped in the car to drive to Salt Lake. Both of our parents met us there and we sent Easton home with mine and Jonathans parents stayed with us at the hospital for a while. Caden was in PCMC for 5 days and they decided that his lungs weren't strong enough to handle the altitude, so as we went higher his oxygen saturation slowly dropped lower and lower until it reached 65% which is pretty bad. The monitor didn't go off until it got that low because he was still breathing, just not getting enough oxygen into his blood. So his heart rate was gradually dropping but didn't get dangerously low for a while. He home now but he's on oxygen but hopefully he'll be off soon. He is so adorable and I just love him and seeing him and Easton play together. He does not let me sleep much though! He wants to be held ALL the time! Seriously, he will sit in a bouncer or something for about two hours in the morning while he looks at a window, a few hours in the afternoon while he sleeps, and his first stretch of sleep at night (which is actually pretty long, about 5 hours) but the entire rest of the day and night he wants to be held! It' s mostly because he has acid reflux and really bad gas, and obviously I shouldn't care because I'm just happy he's alive, but it's getting pretty hard on me, anybody have any suggestions?

I had this post saved but I never posted it. These were my thoughts from Virginia:
Just 2 days after I was released from the hospital, we had to move into the Ronald McDonald House by the hospital because our lease was up. I had no idea what it was going to be like, but it turned out to be a wonderful experience. Rarely do you get to be on the receiving end of charity like that, and I was so amazed at how generous people can be. The Ronald McDonald House is for people who have children in the hospital and live too far away to come visit every day. Most people just stay for a few days, but there were four of us girls there who had babies in the NICU and were there longterm. We ended up staying for about 6 weeks, another girl had twins at 24 weeks in July and she was planning on being there till November! It was fun to have their support and know you're not the only one in that situation. People came in and fixed dinner for us all the time and the cupboards were full from donations. It's amazing what a relief it was to not have to cook after running to the NICU all day and trying to keep Easton entertained. Our ward was awesome and people constantly invited us over or brought us dinner or just called to see what they could do or offer to babysit. It also gave you a lot of perspective. I realized we didn't have it bad at all when I met a girl who tried for years to have a baby, had several miscarriages, and finally had a little girl who was born at 27 weeks and had been in the NICU for months. Then I realized she was lucky when I met the girl who was on vacation and had twins at 24 weeks and had been at the Ronald McDonald House for 4 months. Both of these girls children will have to have extensive therapy in everything and will have many problems to deal with as they grow. But I realized how fortunate they were when I met the girl who had her twins at 32 weeks and the boy didn't survive. Nothing can give you perspective in your trials like seeing how much worse it could be. I actually feel very lucky and humbled that I was able to have this experience. I was able to receive so much service, love, and charity from people that didn't even know me and I have a new attitude during struggles that no matter how hard it is, it could be worse. People at church would come up to me randomly to ask me what they could do, tell me they were thinking of me, or tell me about their children who were born early and are all grown and doing great. I can't explain how wonderful it is to know that people are praying for you. Whenever someone from Utah would say they wished they could do something for me, but they would pray, I wanted to tell them that it was the best thing they could do because that was really the only thing that could help Caden. Thanks so much to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and sweet comments and phone calls! Each one was so appreciated and gave me hope!

He's here!

2009-08-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, I wasn't planning on writing this post for a few more months, in fact, we haven't decided on a name for him yet so I wasn't even planning on updating this until we did, but I'm sitting here bored in the hospital and decided you'd probably all like to know what happened, even if you don't know who I'm talking about! Our little baby boy #2 arrived this Tuesday, August 25 at 4:38 pm! He is darling and tiny (actually big for being born at 31 weeks - 3 lbs. 11 oz.) and makes cute little squeaks... and was quite a surprise! Tuesday morning Jonathan, Easton and I went to pick up the car (since someone backed into it last week and the door had to be replaced) and then went to breakfast. This is how the rest of the day went:
9am- occasional pains, nothing too serious
11:30- Jonathan left for work, more-often occasional pains, but still not super painful
2- Put Easton down for a nap then laid on the couch to take a nap myself but couldn't since for the next hour my stomach hurt every 5-6 minutes. Hmmm...
3- Called Dr's office and left a voicemail for the nurse asking if I should be concerned. I still wasn't too worried because it didn't feel like a contraction to me so I thought it must be something else.
3:15- Got a call back telling me to come get checked just in case, although it may just be intestinal; called Jonathan and asked him to come home from work to take me to get checked because the pains were starting to hurt into my back
3:20- Bearing down pains start!
(I'm trying to forget the time period in between here)
3:55- Jonathan walks in the door to a screaming wife and Easton crying because Mom won't pick him up.
4- We hop on a busy freeway in Washington, DC during rush hour traffic, but luckily it's not for too long
4:20- We pull up to valet parking and a security guard wheels me up to labor and delivery where I immediately scream to everyone that I am having a baby RIGHT NOW!
4:22- 5 nurses are rushing all over and find out that I am completely dilated and ready to go, but they think the baby is breech so I have to wait for the doctor. Are you kidding me?
4:28- Doctor arrives and confirms that the baby is breech so we need to go to the operating room
4:30- In the operating room, we're waiting for anesthia whom of course nobody can find so they finally just slap a gas mask on me to knock me out since I'd been begging for an epidural since I got there and all anyone keeps telling me is not to push the baby out yet
4:38- Our little guy is born... apparently. Not that we had any idea because I was unconscious and Jonathan had gone down to registration as soon as we got to the hospital. He said when he made it up they told him congratulations as they were wheeling the baby to the NICU.
So that's the story! Now our October baby has ended up being an August baby and instead of moving home this weekend like we had planned we'll be staying out here in Virginia for about 6 weeks. We thought we would be able to renew the lease on our apartment since it was supposed to be up Monday, but we can't so it looks like we'll be staying at the Ronald McDonald house here by the hospital. Since I had a C-section, I can't really lift Easton at all and can't do a whole lot of anything yet, so my mom took a medical leave of absence from work and she's going to stay with us for a while to help out with him until I've recovered enough to take care of him. Our ward has been so nice and people have been offering help with everything and bringing meals over. It's kind of crazy how fast all of our plans and everything have changed, but everything happens for a reason and I'm sure it's the same with this. I was feeling pretty down last night about not knowing where we were going to stay and living out here away from everyone for another month and half and not being able to be with the baby, but Jonathan talked to me about how everything has a purpose and this is just another trial we have to go through and that he feels like everything is going to work out just fine and we'll be stronger for it. I'm so lucky to have him, especially to help me keep focused on what's really important during this time. The baby is doing well and they're happy with his progress and I'm so grateful he is being taken care of. I'm so happy to have him and Easton and now to have a place to stay and my mom to help us out. I'm doing good and got to experience a natural labor like I always wanted to, minus the best part which is when the baby comes out :). My labor nurse told me that I just about got to have a natural c-section too, but they realized they were going to have to pump my stomach first so they decided to give me some gas. Overall it was a crazy experience that seems to keep getting crazier with little surprises and changes of plan, but if this is what we have to do to get little whatever-his-name-is here then I guess we'll take it!

Hello from the East!

2009-07-29T17:49:00.000-07:00

Whew! That was quite the blogging break we had there, but we've been pretty busy! We moved just outside of Washington, DC at the end of April and we have had so many fun adventures since we've been here! Oh, and we don't have internet in our apartment so my blogging opportunities are a little limited... or maybe I'm just lazy... either way it's been a while, but here we are! I will have to be picky on what I post because I have a million pictures from all of our adventures, but here goes! I decided to start with this one since this is the most asked for picture:
Finally a belly picture! This was taken last week at 26 weeks/6 months, which is why I have 6 fingers up, so I will remember. I look a little funny since I'm twisting to the side. So here is our little lump of a baby! He is over two pounds now and 15 inches long! I'm in the 3rd trimester now and so if he comes at the same time as Easton it will be in ten weeks! Ah I'm so excited!!! We still really have no idea on a name, so if you have any ideas let us know. Overall this has been a pretty easy pregnancy, especially compared with Easton, so hopefully that means he's going to be an easy kid! Speaking of Easton.... he is so much fun! It really is true that the older they get the more fun they are! And I'm constantly amazed at how much he can do! Here are some funny little quirks about him right now:
- Every night when I put him in his crib he waves and blows me a kiss. :)
- His favorite place to go is "da stoah" (store) and he gets so excited when I tell him we're going. We made a tunnel with a mattress in the bedroom and he crawls under it and waves goodbye to me and babbles but always ends with "da stoah" so I think he's telling me he's going to the store.
- He is overly organized! We never have an open door or drawer because he is constantly shutting everything. He also loves to put things away in the drawers or the trash and to do laundry. Now when he pulls all of his clothes out of his drawers he puts them all back, and tonight he was playing with blocks while I was doing dishes and when I was done I went over to play with him and he was putting them all back in the bag and when he got done he put away all of his books. Oh, and he has to have his books stacked in order of size at night before we can read them and then the smallest on top comes first all the way down to the biggest on bottom. I think it's a phase all little kids go through, but it makes me laugh every time there's something new.
- Jonathan works long hours and Easton LOVES when he does get to see him and since he's asleep when he gets home, Easton has to go wake him up in the morning. He isn't happy till he's seen Dad.
- He is obsessed with airplanes and will stop whenever he hears one and point to the sky.
- He is also obsessed with the moon and will find it in the sky and point to it when it's still daytime.
- He loves to dance! Finally! I didn't think he'd ever start dancing, but he started with just moving his arms a few months ago and now he goes crazy whenever he hears music. We were in a store and heard some bollywood/indian music and he started twitching and swaying all over and was completely in his own world! It was too funny.
- He points to his tummy when I ask him where the baby is.
- He gets excited to go on walks because he loves to push his stroller. Of course the only thing he can reach is the basket underneath, so he just crouches and pushes that. After we get back from a walk he won't go anywhere in the house unless he can push his stroller there. Seriously, if I want to give him a bath he has to push his stroller into the bathroom with him.
- I think he's figured out taking turns. We've been working on it, and the other day at the mall he was waiting patiently for his turn on the slide and bigger kids started running in front of him and he started shaking his head and saying "No, no, no" to them!
- He is now an excellent tantrum thrower... something else we're working on!
- He will fold his arms and bow his head at the beginning of the prayer, and then do whatever he wants during, but make sure he hurries and gets back into prayer position before we're done and then pretend he was like that all along. Little does he know we peek at him!
- He is very much boy. He loves vroom vroom, b-ball, airplanes, motorcycles, any sport, and baseball caps. Jonathan is very proud. :)
- Of course, he can also comb his hair, use an eyelash curler, help mom cook, do laundry, sing in a very pretty high voice, and he loves to clean! We give him a sponge and he's a happy camper! Hopefully these habits last!
- He is SUPER cuddly! He loves to give snuggles, kisses, hugs, and any sort of loves to mom, dad, and his stuffed animals. He even has a book with pictures of kittens in it and he gives them kisses and tilts his head to the side and smiles at them. Beyond those people, though, he's a little more reserved. In fact, one day at the store Taylee was trying to give him a hug and after three attempts they finally did it and started walking backward while hugging and both fell and smacked their heads on the hard floor! Maybe that's why he is a little anti-PDA with other people.
That's an exhaustive list for now, mostly for my family since they are probably the only ones who will read this, but at least it's something! I will work on trying to get more pictures up within the week! But just so everyone knows we are doing fantastic and so excited to come home to Utah!

Drumroll Please...

2009-04-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well, here comes another picture-less blog, but oh well. I planned to put some on, but I haven't scanned the ultrasound pictures onto my computer yet......wait, was that a typo? NOPE! I definitely said ultrasound pics because we are definitely having a baby!!! :) :) :) Of course there are a million other things I should post on here, but I thought I'd get the most important one down and see if I can get the rest on! I just found out that I am 12 weeks along and the due date is October 28! (I'm going to plan for the beginning of October, though, since Easton came 3 weeks early) I found out I was pregnant 5 weeks ago and had no idea how far along I was so we scheduled an ultrasound for this week, went in and found out we're almost in the second trimester! We are so so so sooooo thrilled and can't wait for this new little someone to be born so we can hold it! It's only 2 inches long right now but we could still see the little legs and feet kicking away in the ultrasound. It was adorable! I'm not quite sure how to help Easton adjust to the changes, though, so if any of you have some advice for me, I would really appreciate it!

Silly Boy!

2009-03-05T11:51:00.000-08:00

So, Easton did the funniest thing last night and I just had to write it down before I forget. I brought him in the house and he was screaming because he wanted to go back outside so I was going to the kitchen to get him something to eat. Well, all of the sudden I saw something jump sideways on the floor and looked down and it was a big, blue spider! I am TERRIFIED of spiders so I stood there freaking out for a minute since Jonathan wasn't home to kill it for me. I finally grabbed the lid off the crock pot and threw it on the spider, which it trapped. On closer inspection, I realized it was just a piece of blue string, no spider. :) But amidst my little escapade Easton started laughing his head off. I thought back to what I had done but I had no idea. When I realized the "spider" was just a string, I said, "Oh shoot" and Easton started laughing his head off again. I must have said it when I was freaking out and for some reason he thought it was hilarious, so all night whenever I would say, "Oh shoot" he would laugh and snort! I know this is probably just funny to me, but I love to hear him laugh so I probably said it about a hundred times! What a funny kid!

A Little Bit of Everything...

2009-02-24T19:29:00.000-08:00

So, this post is going to be a little out of order but hey, at least it's here, right?. First of all, I love this weather! Doesn't everyone? It's so great to go on a walk at sunset in a short sleeve shirt! Love it. Anyway, unfortunately Easton and I haven't been able to enjoy the weather as much as I'd like because we've been a couple of invalids the last few days. Easton started being really fussy and clingy on Saturday and in the afternoon I took his temperature and it was 102. From then until Monday it never went below 101 and even got up to 104.6. He was in a lot of pain and looked miserable, so I took him in Monday night. The doctor looked in his throat and found a bunch of ulcers (ouch!). He said he thought it was the Herpes Simplex Virus that 25% of little kids get and if it was we would have to give him really strong meds for a week and there was a possibility he would have to be hospitalized if he didn't eat enough(at the time we couldn't get him to eat much). Well, he wanted to me to bring him back in today to make sure it really was the herpes. Easton was so miserable all day, and then a little bit before his appointment he started acting fine. I took him in and he just sat and played and acted like he felt fine, a complete turnaround from the night before! The doctor looked in his throat and said if it was herpes it would have spread to his gums but since it hadn't, it was just a regular ole virus! Yeah, such good news! The funny thing is, as soon as we got home Easton got all fussy again and started screaming in pain and there wasn't much I could do to make it better. :( So I guess this little virus has a few more days up it's sleeve. Well, the doctor told me the ulcers were really painful, so I should give him benedryl at night to reduce the swelling and help him sleep better. So tonight I gave it to him and then he was screaming and hurting and I was doing everything to try and help him and then all of a sudden he stopped and looked at me and his eyes were all droopy so I picked him up to take him to bed and he basically collapsed on my shoulder and was asleep before we got to his room! It was pretty funny, but it was also good that he could sleep so he wouldn't be in pain. Monday morning I woke up with a bad cold, sore throat, and headache and I've just been really tired with it (especially since Easton's temperature jumps over 104 every night so i spend the night trying to cool him off without him getting chilled) so we brought our mattress out to the living room and Easton and I have been on the mattress and Jonathan has been on the couch next to us. Well, enough of the whining about me and our poor little Eastie, on to the fun stuff and pictures!

First, Christmas! For the first week of Christmas break we went up to Coalville and stayed with Jonathan's parents. It was soooo so much fun! We played games, ate way too much, and just hung out and enjoyed each other's company. We got to be there Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and it was fun to share Easton's first Christmas with them. Here's Easton with Aunt Jocelyn-
Here's Easton's very first Christmas present he ever opened! It was from his Virginia cousins and he didn't put it down all night! He still loves it and plays with it all the time. He didn't really like opening presents, though. I think he just didn't quite get it. Oh well, there's always next year!
Easton's cute Christmas outfit
Family Christmas Picture
We tried to take Easton sledding. First Jonathan tried...
... then Grandpa Dave tried...
...and this was the result of everyone's hard work. Not a happy camper! Luckily he's over that now and doesn't mind if we lay him in a sled and let him go down the little hill in front of our house.
We had such a blast up in Coalville! On Christmas Day we left and went to meet my parents and then start driving for California. We stayed there for the next week of Christmas break but I'm going to have to do an entirely different post for all of those pictures! We had a blast in both places and it was probably the best Christmas break ever!

Next, at the end of last year, I got a new sister! My brother David married Robin! It was a beautiful wedding and we had a luncheon here and then a reception a few weeks later in California. I just have a few pics of the reception, but I'll post more when I get them off my parents computer. I'll also put on a video of my brother singing! He played the guitar and sang "I can't help falling in love with you" for her and it was the most adorable thing ever! We were all crying! And the best part is he is not exactly the most amazing singer or guitarist in the world, so that made it that much cuter! I thought he did pretty good, though. Anyway, here's some pics from the reception:

If you can't tell, I couldn't quit taking pics of Easton in his cute tux! My camera died pretty quick so I didn't get many pics of David and Robin so I'll have to get some from my parents and post them later.

Next, Valentine's Day was a blast! During the day we went and did sealings at the temple, then at night my sister came over and watched Easton while we went to dinner. We went to this AMAZING place called The Tango House off of State Street/500 w in Provo. Jonathan went to Argentina on his mission and this is the first time we've been to an Argentine restaurant together and I absolutely LOVED it! Here's my crazy date-
Isn't he hot? Here I am eating my favorite part : Dessert! We got Dulce de Leche crepes and they're amazing! The owners are from Argentina and his wife makes all the food from scratch and it really is incredible!

Here's Jonathan eating the ribs we got. Wow these were good! I'm not a rib fan, but these were so good we were literally sucking on the bones! Embarrassing, I know!We were planning on going to Jump On It after, but Easton was ready for bed so we went and put him to sleep and just watched a movie at home. It was a very fun night!

But our Valentine's Day really started on Friday night. We went to a dance at the Orem Institute and it was a dream come true for me! I have always been obsessed with old musicals (Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelley, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, etc.) and I've always thought it would be so fun to own a club with a live band and play all the old songs. Well, that's exactly what this dance was! They had all these old men(and some young) playing and even had some crooners. Jonathan and I were able to do the waltz, tango, cha cha, and swing. It was such a blast!

Me and my love...Well, we've had a pretty exciting last month! I'm sure the next one will be even better!

My First Year

2009-02-06T21:14:00.000-08:00

In Easton's first year of life he has...

- Been to the top of the Washington Monument
- Walked
- Eaten artichoke hearts
- Rode fourwheelers, boats, motorcycles, bikes, and soon snowmobiles!
- Been to both coasts
- Flown on 7 airplanes! (cross-country 4 times!)
- Been to the beach
- Said mama, dada, kitty cat, dog, look, vroom-vroom, cockadoodledoo (okay, maybe it was more like babble-babble-ooo, but he's trying :)) and attempted other words
- Hugged Winnie the Pooh
- Been everywhere in DC! And loved the Air and Space Museum
- Had a conversation with Beetle Juice
- Watched Enchanted a billion times
- Found his first love, Carrie Underwood, and watched her music videos ten billion times
- Been to Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, and Fish Lake
- Caused a security breach at the Holocaust museum when he left his diaper bag on a bench and they had to clear the area and call in the dogs to sniff it! Silly Easton! :)
- Been Christmas Tree hunting
- Ate cake, and didn't really like it, but loved ice cream!
- Watched Fourth of July fireworks on the lawn of the Lincoln Memorial
- Stayed in a casino (don't worry, non-smoking)
- Cut at least ten teeth, including a few huge molars
- Been to Disneyland, Sea World, and Universal Studios
- Been sledding
- Hiked Bridal Veil Falls and Mossy Caves in Bryce Canyon
- Been to the temple for 3 weddings
- Figured out what "Let's go" means and immediately waves good-bye and says "vroom-vroom"
- Fallen in love with basketball
- Been in the ICU
- Played with all of his cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents many times and loves them!
- Had a flight canceled and got stuck in JFK airport
- Seen a shark
- Been to several basketball and football games and even a cheer competition
- Moved twice
- Played in sewer water
- Started biting when he wants to go to bed
- Charmed his parents into complete and total devotion!
Easton we love you so much and we are so glad you joined our family! This past year has been the best and we never knew we could be so happy! We love you!

Wow! Floods, Birthdays, and Everything Else!

2009-02-06T20:49:00.000-08:00

My word, I don't even know where to start! I'm not going to lie, I've kind of been putting off updating the blog because so much has happened and it's going to take a while, but I think I'll just start throwing stuff on here and hopefully get enough out of the way that I won't put it off so long next time!
Everything is good at the Peck household right now! One fun change is that we got new carpet! Ha, that's because out apartment flooded with sewer water! It was pretty gross, but we were able to stay at my parent's house a half hour away and we got new carpet out of the ordeal(ours was gross so this was awesome!), so it was okay! Now we're back in and back to school school school! Jonathan and I are both in this semester so it's been a little crazy. Jonathan has his capstone class and an internship and I have two classes and three online. What's funny is the added stress has actually made my life better! I look back at my stressed out blogs and I realize that what I really needed was an out. Everyone told me that I needed to get out and do things myself but I thought, "No, I'm fine, I love being home all the time," which I do, but going back to school has made me so much happier! I have always loved school and it makes me so much happier and get less stressed at home. I highly recommend to any new mom that we all need to have somewhere to go do something on our own! It's also been nice because Easton gets a lot more daddy time and I love having Jonathan home because he accomplishes so much! I'm amazed every day when I come home by how much he cleaned and did while playing with Easton the whole time! I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband!
Speaking of Easton... He is now a one-year-old! I'll have to post pictures of his party later, but he had such a fun birthday! And not only is he one, he is also a toddler! He's been walking between Jonathan and I for months but just wouldn't go farther than a few feet, but as soon as we got back from Christmas break he started taking off and by the time he had his birthday he was walking more than crawling! Now he rarely crawls and instead walks around with his arms straight out in front of him like a zombie! It's the cutest! Lately he loves taking his clothes off and like to walk around in his diaper with his hands on his belly. I don't know why he does it, but it's sure funny! He just entertains himself by walking from room to room(which is really nice for me!). It's amazing how much more interactive he is now and how much more fun! Today Jonathan was singing "76 Trombones" and marching and Easton was trying to march with him! It was so cute! Well, I think that is long enough for now, but I hope there will be many more posts!

Just a thought

2008-12-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

Somewhere amidst the many "special offers" you get in the hospital/mail/email/Motherhood Maternity store I signed up for Parenting magazine. I don't remember doing this at all and I'm not really into getting magazines, but Jonathan insists that since I get that he gets to sign up for ESPN magazine (even though he reads every Parenting issue I get from cover to cover :) ). Still, I also devour them every month during my random spare minutes during the day and this month I read one of the most heartwarming things I've ever heard on parenting. It may just be touching to me because of the whole tantrum issue and the fact that Easton has been really sick for over a week and now I'm also sick, the house is a mess, and I'm going nuts not being able to go out because of the cold and now being able to play with friends because of those darn germs, but I thought I would share it anyway in case it might brighten someone else's day. The article is called "Learning from Liam" and is about a mother who was 41, already had 4 kids, and found out she was (suprise!) pregnant again. She talked about how she sobbed and didn't want to have another since her youngest was finally in preschool and she was actually getting time to herself to do things like volunteering, yoga classes, and swimming laps. She also knew how crazy people would think she was for having so many and for having a 15-year gap between her first and last (she should come to Utah) and so at first it was hard to accept. Well, a few things happened to help her put things into perspective and she talked about how now when her 14-year-old gives her trouble about curfews she remembers her as a little girl and knows it's just a stage, and also how when her new baby keeps her up all night she remembers how "the baby time of total contact is gone like a blink forever -- and I snuggle in and enjoy it." (Since the last two months have been a marathon of sleepless nights and sometimes days I really appreciated that.) Easton hasn't been too difficult and has really mostly been a lot of fun, but there are just some things I miss like sleep, getting to rest when I'm sick instead of still needing to take care of him, actually getting to read a whole book, and getting to run as long as I want instead of just until he decides he's done with the stroller. So what really touched me and helped me put my life into perspective is what she said at the end of her article: "I know that there is nothing better than being a mom. There will be time for myself later, when my children are grown. Right now, I'm busy having a wonderful time." From now on, when I'm playing with Easton, I'm going to forget all the really unimportant things that seem to fill my day and just enjoy having a really, truly, wonderful time.

Football and Food!

2008-12-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we got to go to the state championships for football because Jonathan's alma mater, North Summit High, was playing. And what do ya know? They won! On a field goal with 3 seconds left in the game! It was pretty awesome! We also got to go to the semi-finals with Jonathan's sister Whitney and here we are with Easton.After the game we met up with Jonathan's brother and his wife and their kids and went and got some dinner. It was a blast and Easton loved playing with his cousins!
Here's Aunt Whit and the kids being crazy!
Our sister-in-law is pregnant and due in a few weeks! What's even cooler is that Jonathan's other brother's wife is also pregnant and due in March, so they'll be pretty close!
At this point Jonathan was still sporting the Fu Manchu, but don't worry, after a little encouragement he's decided to put those days behind him. ;)

It was such a fun day and so fun to see family!

Way Behind! (So this is waaaaay too long!)

2008-12-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

I see other cute and creative blogs or else I see the ones that are updated almost daily and I constantly think, "I need to be more like them," and then... here we are almost a month since my last post and no, I haven't done any of the cute and creative things I've been dreaming about. I've decided I give up and I'll just be one of those occasional bloggers that does it whenever she's home from church sick and her little boy is actually napping (which is exactly what is going on today). In my defense, I did try a few times, but three sentences into a carefully thought out blog the computer would have issues or Easton would wake up from a nap. That's one thing I really don't understand. The second I quit cleaning and lay down to take a nap or hop on the computer or do something else relaxing, Easton's internal alarm goes off and he wakes up ready to run around some more. Lately he is becoming increasingly independent, at least as much as he can be for an 11-month old(which by the way is crazy! He'll be one year old next month!). My little baby was always so calm and easy-going and did whatever I wanted him to until a crazy thing happened: mobility. And we're not talking walking here, I mean the second he realized he could move at all on his own (beginning at rolling over) he turned into a much more demanding child that wanted to be moved all the time until he could do it on his own. Fast-forward to today and he is "on the verge" of walking and has been for months. Everyone keeps telling me how he's so close and it will be any day now, but he is completely content with holding mom or dad's hand and pulling us around the house all day(which is a bit painful on the back and more than a little time-consuming). He has his days when he'll walk around in his crib, let go of the coffee table and walk a little, and one day even walked all the way across the bedroom, but then for some reason he decides he doesn't want to do it by himself anymore and insists on being carried or hand-held to wherever he wants to go. Crawling has, unfortunately, completely lost it's appeal and walking is just not quite what he wants yet either, so we're stuck here in limbo. (By the way, I know this is quite long and probably pretty boring, but this is as close as I get to writing in his journal these days, so... you can just look at the pictures if you want. :) ) Anyway, back to the independence thing, does anyone have any advice for temper tantrums? If Easton doesn't get what he wants, and I mean just about ANYTHING he wants that he doesn't immediately get, he throws himself on the ground and cries till he gets it. If we're holding him he throws himself backward and arches his back and won't un-arch until he gets it. I know you're supposed to ignore their tantrums, but I'm having a hard time drawing the line between listening to what he wants and helping him learn to communicate and letting him think he should get whatever he wants, whenever. I try to only stop him if it's something dangerous, but I'm wondering if there are some more mom secrets I should know about this. Especially during church. Last Sunday he got to the point that every time I walked in the door of the Relief Society room he threw himself backward and screamed. The only reason we'd made it through Sunday School was because of a cute little girl that mesmerized him with her toys, but even then we were sitting in the doorway the whole time and we had to take him out a couple of times. By Relief Society the little girl's spell had worn off and there was no more keeping him in there. Granted he was tired and I'm sure a nap would have helped the situation, but I'm still struggling with the whole independence thing. So.... anybody have suggestions? I don't think Easton is terrible or anything, just very active and independent (sometimes stubborn... hmmm, wonder where he gets that) and probably pretty normal and so I'm wondering how other people taught their children about... well I'm not sure what you would call it, but basically how to teach him to not freak out if he doesn't get his way. If any of you have any advice, I would greatly appreciate it!
Even though I know I've already exceeded the maximum allowance for a single post, I have lots more to say! First off, I want to say Thank You Thank You THANK YOU Jonathan! While I've been sick he's been taking care of Easton, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and all that, even though he's doing finals right now. Mwah! I love you! I also want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I can't believe it's almost here! This year we're going to have a very busy and fun Christmas. David (my brother) and Robin (his soon-to-be-little-Mrs.) are getting married on Saturday, then we're going straight to Coalville to stay till Christmas, then we'll go to the Harward Christmas party and meet up with my family on Christmas Day and early the next morning we'll be leaving for California with them for David's reception and to go to Disneyland, Sea World, etc for a week and a half! Yay! It's all going to be so much fun! I'm sure we'll have tons of pictures of that and hopefully I'll post them soon!
Another exciting thing right now is that next semester is both mine and Jonathan's last! I'll have 2 classes and 3 online classes and he has 1 class and an internship and then we'll both graduate in April! I'm so excited! I'm really excited for Jonathan to get to have more Easton time. This semester has been pretty crazy and it's rare that he's actually home before Easton goes to bed so it will be a nice change. Easton loves his daddy so much still and is always crawling around the house saying "dada" and looking for him. Oh, and speaking of that, Easton's new tricks lately are waving, giving high fives, and pointing, all of which he does when he wants to, not when we're trying to show relatives. He also crawled in to me today, looked up and said "Hi" and then came up and grabbed me! It was probably pure coincidence, but I thought it was pretty cool. Anyway, I'm going to stop now in case Easton wakes up! I'll try to hurry and get some pics up since those are the most interesting parts of a blog anyway, but if I don't make it, I'm sure I'll try again in another month or so! :)

Another Tag!

2008-11-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

Husband Tag
1. Where did you meet? At our ward when we lived in Raintree. He gave a great talk and I just had to go meet him.
2. How long did you date before you got married? 1 year and 1 month
3. How long have you been married? 1 year and 7 months
4. What does he do to surprise you? Flowers, cleans, comes home early
5. What is your favorite feature of his? his gorgeous face
6.What is your favorite quality? He has a good attitude about everything and is easy-going
7. Does he have a nickname for you? Usually sweetie, but lots of random things (cuddle ruckus, love chucks, that kind of stuff)
8. What is his favorite food? Fettucini and pretzels
9. What is his favorite sport? Football and Basketball
10. When and where did you first kiss? My apartment when we were country-swing dancing
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? laugh
12.Do you have children? Easton who is ten months!
13. Does he have any hidden talents? Yes I learn new ones every day! He can fix anything mechanical and was a mathlete in high school.
14. How old is he? 25
15. Who said I love you first? He did, 2 minutes before leaving me for the summer to work.
16. What is his favorite music? Some hard rock, country, punk, rap, basically everything. Oh, and he knows all the words to and the artist of any really really old country song.
17. What do you admire most about him? He is always striving to be better spiritually and he lets me realize my own mistakes instead of telling me I'm wrong.
18. What is his favorite color? Blue
19. Which side of the bed does he sleep on? Left if you are looking at the bed
20. Will he read this? Yes

Tagged by Jacque

2008-11-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

1. Where is your cell phone? couch
2. Your significant other? Jonathan
3. Your hair? blonde!
4. Your mother? sweet
5. Your father? funny
6. Your favorite thing? love
7. Your dream last night? Easton
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? family
10. The room you're in? Livingroom
11. Your fear? intruders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy
13. Where were you last night? Party
14. What you're not? well-rested
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? camera
17. Where you grew up? Riverton, UT
18. The last thing you did? exercise
19. What are you wearing? white
20. Your TV? BYU devotional
21. Season: Summer
22. Your computer? Dell
23. Your life? wonderful
24. Your mood? content
25. Missing someone? everyone!
26. Your car? Nighthawk
27. Something you're not wearing? makeup
29. Your summer? Washington, DC!
30. Your favorite color? Cougar-Blue
31. When is the last time you laughed? Morning
32. Last time you cried? 2 weeks
33. Who will/would re-post this? Bobi Sue
34. Your Money? enough
A) One thing you like most about yourself: Jonathan
B) Four people who e-mail me: byu, restaurant.com, hungry-girl.com, babycenter.com
C)Three Favorite Foods: grapes, eggs, stir-fry
D) Four places I'd rather be right now? Lake Powell, Riverton, Coalville, Fish Lake
E)Four people I think will respond(tag): Bobi Sue, Brindy, Natalie, Megan

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2008-11-14T14:21:00.000-08:00

One thing I love about being married is that you not only get to start your own family, you also become a part of your husband's family and get another set of brothers, sisters, parents, nieces, and nephews. I've been lucky to marry into a great family and I absolutely love all of my in-laws. Jonathan has two brothers who are married and have darling families, two sisters who are so kind and so much fun to hang out with and my fashion idols, and two wonderful and hilarious parents who have welcomed me into their family and loved me since the beginning. Besides the blessing of having these new people in my life, I also get to become a part of their lives. One of my favorite parts about having in-laws is that not only do you get to enjoy the traditions that you grew up, but now you get to be a part of all of their fun traditions and do things you wouldn't normally get to do! Jonathan's family has some good ones, like family camp-outs on the trampoline on the 24th of July, craft day for the girls while the boys go hunting, presents for the parents when a new baby is born (an awesome one! :) ), and one of my favorites, the yearly hike up the canyon to get Christmas trees! Jonathan's mom loves Christmas and really anticipates it so we got to go up the day after Halloween and pick out our tree for Christmas! And we got to listen to Christmas music! Easton loved it to and got packed all over the hill, but he could only last so long and eventually fell asleep in his carrier. We had such a blast! Thanks Dave and Kathy for a fun weekend and for letting me share in such a great tradition!

Halloween!

2008-11-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

This Halloween was tons of fun! We had two parties and then were able to see both our families on Halloween and go trick or treating with Easton! Here we are up in Coalville at the Pecks getting ready to go get some candy!Jonathan was a mountain man/John Smith/Merriwether Lewis/who knows and I was Pocahantas/Sacajewea and Easton was our little Thanksgiving Turkey!
Here is Easton with Grandma Kate. He got a hold of her pumpkin necklace as soon as we came in and was eating it and playing with it the whole time!
I scalped Jonathan with my hatchet! :)
We had a Halloween party with a bunch of our friends and this is what Easton did the whole time! He made it through the first 15 minutes and then was out of his costume and asleep.
Here's our delicious treats! Appetizing huh?
Jonathan carved us a killer pumpkin! It's a turkey... I think.
We sure had a blast! Halloween is so much more fun when you have kids! We can't wait till next year!

More Pics from UEA

2008-11-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

U to the E to the A! (Go Cougs!)

2008-11-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

For UEA, Jonathan's parents came down and stayed here in Orem. We had sooo much fun! We went shopping, to dinner, watched the BYU game, and also went to the BYU vs Utah womens volleyball game. It was a lot of fun and we loved having the Pecks down for the weekend!
Here's Easton with Cosmo. We tried to get him to look at the camera, but he was having too much fun pulling Cosmo's whiskers!

Here's the whole fam! From front left to right, Jonathan, me, Jocelyn, then back Whitney, her friend Tyson, Easton, Grandma Kate, and Grandpa Dave.
Here's a family picture. Easton looks like a goof.

Easton was attacking me from the row behind!
Easton spent a lot of the game walking all over the bleachers and around the track. Good thing Grandpa was there to give Mom a break! Thanks to everyone for coming! We really did have a blast! We're sure excited to be home with family and not 2,000 miles away! :)

I thought I'd throw this pic in here as well. Jonathan and I got to go to the BYU vs New Mexico game. It's kind of funny looking at this picture now, because this was a cold day in the middle of a ton of warm days and now we're looking at semi-warm days in the midst of freezing days. Oh I miss summer!

Canoeing Adventures

2008-11-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

One of my all-time favorite activities is canoeing and a few weeks ago our neighbors invited us to go with them on the Provo River! It was such a blast! Here is a cute picture of Easton, but don't let it fool you.
This is what he actually looked like for the first part of the trip. The life jacket was so bulky he couldn't move and he couldn't sit up with it on, so he had to lean back on Jonathan's knees! It was hilarious, even though he didn't really think so.

We had some friendly visitors thanks to Easton's snacks. The ducks were not shy at all and would come right up to the side of the canoe! In fact, Easton reached his hand out to pet one of them and it bit him! He looked a little stunned but after he realized it didn't hurt he just stuck his hand right back out there!
Thanks to Nick and Brooke for inviting us! We had a blast!

Hiking!

2008-11-06T13:36:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we decided to enjoy the fall leaves before they were gone and hike up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was so much fun and Easton loved it!
My two cute boys. Awww!

Here we are at the bottom...... and at the top!
Easton L-O-V-E-D it! He especially loved watching the falls and the river.
Here's daddy's little boy. What cuties!

Fu Man-what?

2008-11-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year (those pictures are forthcoming) Jonathan was John Smith/Merriwether Lewis/a mountain man and decided to grow out a beard for it. He was so excited to have an excuse to prove his manhood. Well, the Sunday after Halloween he went into the bathroom to shave it off for church, and his beard became...
... a Fu Manchu! Wow what a stud! We both liked it so much he wore it to church. But with facial hair like this you can't just wear a common suit and tie, so Jonathan wore his grandpa's old cowboy suit, his elk belt buckle, and bolo (sp?) tie. Yep, he was definitely representing Coalville this week! He only intended on wearing it to church, but he's since become quite attached and today is Thursday and he is still sporting his facial ferret. What a goof!
He is a sweet little goof though. He called me last week and asked me on a date for last night. He took me to see "The Express" and then to get ice cream! What a sweet guy! I had a dream this week that I was married to someone else(a fictional man, not anyone I actually know) and I was telling everybody about him, but when they started asking me questions about him I realized I didn't even know him. Then I remembered Jonathan and I started freaking out and telling everyone that I had married the wrong person and now I was stuck! I remembered how funny he was and how good he treated me and how much fun we had and I was panicked thinking I wouldn't get to be with him forever. Well, I'm sure you can imagine my elation when I woke up next to my sweetheart and realized it was just a dream! I think every now and then we need a nice little reminder of just how much we do love and appreciate our companions and how lucky we are to have them. Just thought I would share that thought with you and let Jonathan know how much I love him! :)

Catch-up #2

2008-11-06T12:26:00.000-08:00

Despite any promises at posting more regularly, I again have five or six different groups of pictures on my computer ready to be posted and with no one to post them. Finally, Easton is asleep, and even though I have a messy house and a million other things to be doing... I am going to get this done! Our house has been a little bit crazy lately though, so I guess I have a good excuse. Easton hit the 9 month mark three weeks ago, and since then he has had a bad cold, an ear infection, a yeast infection, and has cut FOUR teeth and is cutting THREE MORE!!! Holy cow. We noticed his first tooth on his 9 month birthday, and since then they've been popping out right and left. Needless to say, he is not a very happy little boy. And he still has the yeast, and for those of you who haven't seen it, it's bad diaper rashX10 and it creeping onto his belly and legs. Poor baby! We now wake up anywhere from every half hour to every three hours during the night (yes, we did have a night where it was every 30 minutes for almost 5 hours!) and he clings to me most of the day. But, the end is in sight. He is finished with his ear infection and we slap Oral B on every night as well as give him Motrin and teething tablets, and I think it's starting to help. Enough whining though, now onto the fun stuff!
A little while ago I put Easton down for a nap and went in to check on him and this is what I found:

What a silly kid! He slept like that for a while, too, until I got done taking pictures and laid him down. I love how babies can fall asleep in the weirdest places.
This next picture is one of my favorites! It's from Jonathan's birthday in September.

The picture doesn't quite do it justice. The lights were out and just the candles were lit so Easton went to sit on Jonathan's lap while he blew them out. Jocelyn snapped a picture just as it went dark and in the flash you could see Easton's eyes the size of golf balls! It was awesome!
Despite the difficulties lately we've had lots of fun times, too. We sure love being a family! I honestly have about 7 posts I need to put on here, so I'll do my best!

Sleeping Buddies

2008-10-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

So, we've been having trouble getting Easton to go to sleep on his own since we moved back from Virginia. The other day we put him in his crib to go to sleep and instead of crying, we didn't hear anything. I waited a while and went in to check on him and found him sound asleep- clutching his stuffed dog! Ever since then, he's gone to sleep on his own, holding onto his puppy, almost every single time. It is the most adorable thing ever! And it makes life so much easier for me!

Happy Birthday Jonathan!

2008-10-17T22:51:00.001-07:00

Sooo... I'm late on everything else, why not be late on this, too! :) Jonathan's birthday was actually September 30, but I'm just getting around to posting so I'll include the birthday post I was planning on writing. I saw this on my cousin's blog and thought it was a cute idea! Since Jonathan is turning 25, here are 25 random facts about him!

1. He will eat anything! If anyone is considering throwing something away because it's gone bad, just give it to Jonathan. He will eat it, even if it is spoiled, just so it doesn't go to waste!
2. He looks good in a pair of Wranglers.
3. He gets up with Easton every morning and lets me sleep in...
4. ... what he does when he gets up with him is take him into the family room to watch SportsCenter. Easton now loves watching football and gets excited when Jonathan whistles the ESPN theme song.
5. His family calls him Jonathan, his coworkers call him JP, and his friends from Coalville call him Johnny, but he won't admit to that one.
6. He didn't have a cell phone till after his mission and he didn't have text messaging till we got engaged.
7. He makes the best scrambled eggs ever!
8. He looks for any opportunity to serve. I have never known anyone to jump out of their seat so fast in Sunday School if more chairs need to be set up. I think he signs every sheet that comes around and over the summer(even though he worked till dark every night and Sunday was his only day off) he went on splits with the missionaries every time they needed someone.
9. He is studying Business Management and planning to go to law school. He still doesn't know what type of law, but he has liked his business law and labor law classes.
10. He is the most fun person to cook for! It doesn't matter what I make, he goes on and on at every meal about how good it is and acts like it's the best thing he's ever had.
11. He has one of the hardest jobs ever: a door to door salesman every summer. He also has one of the best attitudes about it.
12. If I would let him, he would eat macaroni and cheese, top ramen sandwiches, quesadillas, and grilled cheese every meal. He does eat a turkey sandwich or two for lunch about 300 days out of the year.
13. His weakness is Oreos and milk.
14. He acts like a little boy when he gets in the swimming pool and hops like a jelly bean all over the place. Easton loves it.
15. He loves the Knicks, the Raiders, and the Yankees, but is a die-hard Cougar fan.
16. He always sleeps on the right side of the bed. And he snores.
17. When I was pregnant he gave me a foot massage every night for three months, and the best part was he offered to do it without me asking for it.
18. He served a mission in Salta, Argentina and was a great example of obedience (or so I've heard from his old companions).
19. He loves Chuck Norris jokes and anything else that makes him laugh.
20. He calls me and Easton the craziest names you could ever imagine! (I'd write them here but he would be embarrassed!)
21. He always opens my door.
22. He told his mom he was going to marry me before we'd even spent 10 minutes together. (The reason he told her that was because he needed canned food to bid on me in the ward date auction.)
23. He sleeps like a rock. Every morning he asks me if Easton woke up during the night because he has no idea.
24. He is a great dancer
25. He wants to live in a small town and own a horse ranch someday.

Happy birthday Jonathan! I know every wife thinks her husband is the best one ever and I am definitely one of them! He is more sweet, loving, and kind than I ever would have expected and I am grateful every day that he picked me! Easton couldn't ask for a more playful dad! Just the other day I was thinking about what an amazing thing it is that out of all of the people who have ever lived, he is the one that I get to spend all eternity with and I am soooo excited about that! Sorry to take this opportunity to brag, but he never does it for himself and I just wanted to let him know how special he was. I love you sweetie!

Finally!

2008-10-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so with the start of the new school year and a lot of changes, I've noticed lots of people's blogs saying things about how longs it's been since they've posted. I'd like to say I had a really good reason for being one of them, but... I basically just keep making up excuses and even though I frequently check other people's blogs, it's been a long time since I've done my own. So here goes a long long catch-up!
As most of you know, we are getting back into the groove of school, wards, friends, family, raising Easton, and actually having time together!(which has been awesome!) Boy I can tell you we are loving it! Jonathan only goes to school two days a week so we have lots of free time together and Easton has started a blessed trend of going to bed between 7 and 8, waking up at 7 and eating, and then going back to sleep till 9 or 10! Hallelujah! Believe me I am loving life! He still takes a couple naps during the day, too, and is the happiest little squirt ever with all this good rest! In fact, he's always been pretty mild, but now he's getting sillier and sillier every day. His daddy taught him to scrunch his nose and eyes and breath really loud and fast out his nose and now it's his favorite thing to do. Especially during meals. Another newfound hobby is screaming, and when I say "screaming," I mean somewhere between squealing, screeching, squeaking, and something that sounds like an attempt at hitting a note that is way above your natural range. And boy can he do it loud. His favorite place to do it is restaurants, church, whenever visitors come over, or for ten minutes straight at the grocery store. Our family is always the center of attention now! I can think of two specific times recently- a softball game and the swimming pool - when everyone was staring at us. He does it a lot when he's excited and since he gets really excited when he sees other babies, he ends up scaring a lot of them with his "greeting." He even scared some lady's dog the other day! I'm not sure if I should try and discourage this, but I just think it's so darn funny that I let him keep doing it. He's probably just learning to talk, right? Actually, he is doing really good in that department! He mimics a lot of words we say and will call me "mama" and the other day called Jonathan "dada" and reached for him! He even mimicked "vroom vroom" once, but that's understandable since he has a love affair with motorcycles, fourwheelers, trucks, and anything else that makes a lot of really loud noise. If any of these drives by he will not take his eyes off it till the sound dies out. My dad recently got a new street bike and he gets soooo excited when he sees it and just repeats "oooh oooh" over and over again. We have taken him on a few fourwheeler and motorcycle rides and he loves riding in Grandpa Peck's big truck.
Easton keeps us entertained all day long. He loves to crawl, chase, and he is constantly grabbing our hands to steady himself and then he pulls us and takes off running and we have to hustle to keep up so he doesn't fall. He pulls himself up on anything he can reach and everything is a toy so the bottom two shelfs of everything have only unbreakables on them. We can put him in the family room and he'll play by himself for an hour since he can crawl all over and pull everything off the shelves and just be silly. We love parenting so much and can't imagine what we would be doing without him! It's kinda funny, we can go through the whole day of being with him, and at the end of the night when we go to check on him before we go to bed, we often just stand over his crib and talk about how much we miss him and just want to wake him up to play with him! We love you Easton!

Pastel Art!

2008-10-01T20:28:00.001-07:00

So, my friend Brooke is an amazing artist and is going to put her talents to good use! She drew an adorable pastel picture of Easton the other day and she's going to start a business drawing the pictures you send to her! They are super cute and cheap so check out her blog, Personalized Pastel Art, in my friends list! Way to go, Brooke!
PS- I don't know why the picture didn't post, but if you click on the weird box at the bottom of this post it will take you to a page with the pic of Easton, or else you can just check it out on her site.

We love being home with family!

2008-09-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Now that we're home we get to spend time with all of the people that we've missed so much this summer! We love our families so much and have been so excited to spend time with them! Here is Easton playing with Grandma and Grandpa Peck in Grandpa's new truck.
Here's awesome Aunt Jocelyn. Easton loves playing with her!
One of the highlights of our visit was taking a ride on Grandpa's new John Deere lawn mower. Can't you just see the excitement bursting out of him?

Easton and Grandma took off on the mower...
...and kept going... and going... and going...
...but don't worry, they came back! Easton loves Grandpa Dave and Grandma Kate and Aunts Whitney and Jocelyn and we're so excited to be home to spend time with them!

We're home!!!

2008-09-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Alright, although we've been home now for almost a month, I'm just barely putting up a post on here, but we took this picture of Easton on the plane and I thought it was so adorable that I had to put it on! He was such a good boy and played with his toys and was happy most of the time. There was an empty seat next to us so he got to sit in it and read his books! We are so happy to be home with family and friends, but we'll definitely miss our friends out in Virginia! I decided to post some pictures of Easton and his little friends that he will miss!

This is Taylee. She and Easton played together all the time and were so silly. Taylee would always pat Easton on the head like a dog and stick things in his mouth. Easton loved it and would just open his mouth and bite whatever Taylee put in it. Taylee lives just around the corner from us now and whenever Easton sees her he gets super excited and squeals his head off!

Easton also had some little friends in our ward, Kevin and Ricky. Here is Easton and Kevin in their "fort" where they had so much fun!

Here's Easton with his adorable little cousins Kayla and Mylee. He absolutely loved them and squealed every time he saw them. He is going to miss them so much and hopefully we can go out and visit everyone in Virginia soon!

Mobility here we come!

2008-09-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know... Easton can crawl! I don't have any pics of him yet, but I am just so excited for him so I thought I would post a little message and share my excitement! He did his breaststroke across the carpet forever, and then a few days before we came home he started doing the real thing! Now he crawls all over our apartment and when we went to my parents last weekend he took off up the stairs! When I say took off, I really mean it! First he zoomed up the short stairs (about 3 steps) and then went about halfway up the long staircase, which is about a dozen stairs! I can't believe it! I have a feeling he can do a lot more than I realize though. I peeked in his door one day to check on him during a nap and found that not only was he not asleep, he somehow pulled himself up in his playpen and was walking around in it holding on to the side! The funny thing is when I'm in the room he acts like he can't do anything, but when nobody is there to get him he just does everything himself! I'm so excited for him to have this newfound freedom, but I now understand why all moms told me that I should enjoy his non-crawling time. The other day while I was in the shower he crawled right over to the tub, pulled himself up, and tried to dive over the side and jump in with me! I put him back on the floor but he would just keep charging the tub! I think we're in for a lot more adventures! ?Easton is constantly crawling into every space and shelf that he can. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get some!

Washington Monument

2008-09-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 2006, Jonathan was a little pest control salesman in Virginia and we had been dating for a few months but were already madly in love. I went out to visit him and we took this picture in front of the Washington Monument. At the time, we would have never guessed what the future held. Almost exactly 2 years later, here we were again, but in such a different phase of life!

Now we are so much happier than we could have ever imagined and can't believe how blessed our little family is! I'm so grateful for Jonathan and Easton and the happiness they bring to my life! I really can't imagine life without them!

I got a tag!

2008-09-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

So, I have never been tagged before and even though this is probably a really immature thing to be excited about, I am!

3 Favorite Last Purchases....
1. New Jammies for Easton
2. A whole lotta food storage from Macey's caselot sale
3. Tashina's baby shower present! Holy cow shopping for little girls clothes is so fun!

3 Favorite Movies...
1. Singing in the Rain
2. Kicking and Screaming
3. August Rush

3 Things I Haven't Done Yet...
1. Been on a cruise
2. Been stung by a bee
3. Left the United States

3 Things I Cannot Live Without...
1. My Family
2. Dessert
3. A Treadmill -- so I can have as much dessert as I want!

3 Favorite Dishes...
1. Avocado Turkey Burgers
2. Chicken with Zucchini and Tomatoes
3. Anything my lover fixes for me

3 Favorite TV Shows...
1. SportsCenter (that's for Jonathan)
2. Shows about sharks and squids and other creatures in the sea
3. Racheal Ray

3 Last Places I Traveled...
1. Lake Powell
2. Coalville
3. Home from Virginia!

3 Favorite Desserts...
1. Cheesecake
2. Brownie Sundaes
3. Oreos, etc. I'm not gonna lie, this list could go on forever! It basically includes everything sweet!

3 Things I Would Buy if Money Weren't an Issue...
1. All the cute clothes I want for my kids!
2. Every ingredient in the world so I could make any recipe
3. A really really big truck

3 Wishes...
1. That me and Jonathan live for a long time and die together at the same time
2. That all of our kids will be happy and we'll be a close family forever
3. World Peace...seriously

3 People I Tag...
1. Bobi Sue
2. Brindy
3. Jacque

Play ball! Kickball that is!

2008-08-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Last week we went with our office to a park to play some kickball before the boys had to go to work! Kickball is definitely one of the best games ever invented and we were sooo excited!

I think this one may be our Christmas card!

Woo woo! Here's our totally awesome daddy playin' the field!
Here are some of our friends out here in Virginia. From the left is Bobi Sue and her little girl Taylee, then Mandy with her husband Trent next to her. They are such fun girls (and Trent) and Easton and Taylee are basically best friends. I've been so lucky to have the other wives out here to do things with!
Here's another one of daddy. Check out that ball! Kicking that was pretty intense!

Here's Easton and his Uncle David! He's been out here selling with us this summer and Easton loves playing with him! (And we love the free babysitting! :) )

Here's me going to kick my homerun! Well, maybe not quite.. but I did get on base!
Easton was a good cheerleader in his little baseball uniform, and we decided to head back to the park that Sunday and try out the playground! As I was putting these pictures on, I decided that Easton makes the silliest faces in the world!

Notice the nice halo around his head? Yeah, that's his fuzz. Easton has this lovely mop of the thinnest, finest blonde hair ever that sticks straight up all the time! And I love it! I tried to come it to the side the other day for church, and when it dried it still stuck straight up, only now it had a bit of a slant to it. It gave him a nice windblown look. :)

Oh yeah, we took on the big slide... and Easton thought he was quite the stud!

We had a blast... for about ten minutes. You can only go down the slide so many times, and with a 7 month old who is still scooting on his belly, there's not a whole lot else to do. Although, we did enjoy the three-year old who kept running up to us, singing his ABCs, then clapping his hands for himself until we clapped with him! I'm excited for Easton to get bigger and for many more trips to the park!

Family Pictures

2008-08-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some random family pictures that we've taken while we've been out here. Enjoy!

More Fun Visitors!

2008-08-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends from Riverton came out to visit us a few weeks ago! Megan Baxter, who just got home from a mission, came out to stay for a few days and see the sights. We had tons of fun seeing everything in DC, but it was sooo hot we were pooped for the rest of the time!
We played in the sprinklers in front of the WWII Memorial. Easton loved it (even though it doesn't look that way!).
Chelsey Sharp, another of our friends from Riverton, is out here on an internship so she came over one night for dessert!

In case you're wondering, that isn't a discolored picture, our teeth really are red and blue! We couldn't resist the popscicles from the little vendors that just happen to be on every corner in DC!

Ever since becoming a missionary, Megan loves the whole world. It was such a fun weekend and so nice to have people from home out to visit! Thanks for coming Megan!

Fabulous Fourth

2008-08-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome Fourth of July this year! Grandpa and Grandma Harward, Aunt Ashlee and Aunt Nikki, Uncle McKay, Uncle Christian, Aunt Mandy, and cousins Kayla and Mylee all came to visit. We had a full house and it was so much fun!
We visited one of my new favorite places, George Washington's home, Mount Vernon. It was beautiful! It is right on the bank of the Potomac and full of acres of beautiful grass and trees. We saw a few movies about the Civil War and George Washington's life that were really interesting and made me realize what an amazing person he really was. Here is a picture of Easton and me in front of his mansion, which still holds much of the original furniture and even the bed that he died in.
Easton is the first grandchild on my side of the family and is often treated like a celebrity, with all of his aunts and uncles fighting over who gets to hold him. McKay loves spending time with him and he and Grandpa were really excited when we couldn't take strollers into the mansion so they HAD to stay out on the lawn and take care of Easton. :)

Easton obviously loved this guy-time, too!
We met up with some of our neighbors and friends from Riverton. Kirk and Michelle Sharp came out to visit their daughter, Chelsey, who is doing an internship in Washington, D.C. Here's a picture of Ashlee, Nikki, Chelsey, and me in front of the "necessary"(the outhouse).By the end of the day Easton was completely wiped out and fell asleep while Grandpa was holding him!
For the fourth we went into DC to watch the fireworks and visit some of the monuments.
Easton loved playing with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins Kayla and Mylee.

We got to sit on the lawn in front of the Lincoln Memorial to watch the fireworks. It was such a great view, but we also got soaked in the rain. Luckily Christian and Mandy brought a sheet that we held over us.

We were quite the sight all huddled under the dripping sheet!

Heres Christian and Mandy and their adorable girls, Kayla and Mylee.

Easton has lately taken to sucking on anyone's nose that gets near his mouth, especially when he's hungry! He's such a silly boy!

We also had another visitor for the weekend...
...David's fiance, Robin! That's right! They got engaged at Disneyland a few weeks ago and are getting married at the end of December! Robin is one of the nicest girls ever and we are so excited to have her in our family!

Overall, it was an awesome weekend and we loved every minute of it!

Food Glorious Food!

2008-08-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

I've always thought of Easton as a pretty easy-going guy, but I've learned that even the mellowest of boys can go nuts when it comes to food! I wasn't planning on starting Easton on baby food until 6 months, but a few weeks before he hit that age he started going crazy when we would eat at the table together without him. He would kick and scream until we lifted him up to the table and let him play with our plates and suck on our spoons, so I gave in and bought him some baby food. WOW, I think that was the happiest moment of his life! He was giggling his head off when he tasted those mashed up carrots and gobbled up his squash with gusto. So far he's had squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, applesauce, bananas, pears, peaches, prunes (a necessity!), peas, and green beans. He loves all this new goodness but zips his lips tight whenever he sees something green coming toward his mouth! Mommy is definitely going to win this battle, though!

A Whole New World

2008-08-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

Easton has discovered his freedom! At about 5 months old, he realized that he could get where he wanted just by turning into a wiggle worm! I would sit him in his car seat next to the treadmill at the gym while I ran and he would sit and wiggle the entire time, trying to get out of it. I was glad because it kept him entertained! Finally one day he was taking a nap in the car seat and when I went in to check on him, he had soundlessly wiggled out of his seat onto the floor and partially under the bed! I thought he would be upset he fell out, but he was so proud of himself! Since then he has progressed leaps and bounds and is now on the verge of crawling! He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, trying to figure out how to go forward. He can go sideways and backwards but hasn't quite got the hang of forward yet. He will be there soon though! Just today he started moving his knees forward but then couldn't move his arms. I'm so excited for him to start moving!