2009

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?

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!

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

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

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!