Peck Family Pics

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

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!

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!

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!

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...

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!

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!