Still too busy

I'm madly getting ready for the holidays, so sadly, I have no time to edit and post pics. I did a quicky upload of some older pics on facebook, so here they are.

A quick hello

I was planning to do much better at this blogging thing, but life is too busy. Quick update: Quinn in awesome. He's mastered the army crawl and is getting closer to big boy crawling. Yesterday we lowered his crib mattress because when I went to check on him he had pulled himself up and was looking over the rail. I am ordering his new car seat today because he's outgrown his infant seat.

Troy is loving football season and is gearing up for basketball to start next month. Sewing is my new hobby. Yesterday I finished a shopping cart cover for Quinn (because once the new car seat arrives I'll actually have to take him out of it once in a while). That's us in brief. Hopefully soon I'll have a chance to do some serious blogging, but until then, here's our cute boy.

This tells you how bad I've been--this pic is a month old. :(

Summer Update

I found my camera under the ottoman about 4 minutes after my last post, but then Quinn woke up and that was the end of that. But I feel it's necessary to cram the second half of our summer into one post (minus one or two events that warrant their own), so here goes:


Troy had a birthday! Woo-hoo. My sister made him a birthday hat that was too small, so Quinn got to wear it. Unfortunately it looked a little too much like a dunce cap.


For Quinn's six-month birthday we went to Fishlake to see my aunt and uncle and my dad took pictures of our little family. I will post more eventually, but our new header can from the shoot and he made us some awesome canvas prints that I still haven't hung up. Once I hang them, they will be the first things on our walls and we've live here for 9 months. Oops.


We also spent Quinn's six-month mark giving him solids for the first time. Clearly he was very excited.


He ate the cereal very well. Such a good boy.


Day two did not go so well because that was the same weekend he discovered he could blow raspberries, so he did that all through dinner. Look closely at his arm and you can get an idea of what he and I looked like once dinner was over.


Quinn's had blocked tear ducts forever, so we spend a lot of time laughing at his pirate look. A side effect of one of his post-surgery medications was dry eyes, so he had a break for a week and a half. Once we took him off the meds, I fully expected him to gunk up again, but they stayed clear. Hooray! At least until two days ago when one got bad again. Oh well, at least we know there's hope.

Just evidence that Quinn's parents are easily entertained.

Has it only been a week?

I wonder if life will ever get back to normal. This week has messed with all of us--we've made two trips to Phoenix (with at least one, maybe two in the next week); Quinn tries to be happy, but is still a cranky boy; he won't sleep unless he falls asleep nursing; his non-existent appetite at the first of the week has left me with little milk to give him (something I'm sure you wanted to know); Troy and I stress about the bloody spots in his diaper and a seemingly lengthening catheter tube; and on and on and on. I know this is a very small problem compared with what other babies I know are dealing with, but it's a change for our family. The catheter comes out Tuesday, but I have a feeling we'll all be recovering long after that. I'm so tired. Why am I up at 11:30 when I have to be up at 6:00 to get ready for church? Ug. That may turn out to be a bad idea.

Random Pics

We don't do a lot in the summer, but it's amazing how quickly the days go by. Troy decided that there aren't enough pics of Mama and Baby, so he's become a bit of a shutterbug. I have mixed feelings about it.

Quinn spends his time napping and reading.

And Troy started his masters degree yesterday. What an adventure this will be!

Camping

We spent the night at the cabin last week. Nothing exciting happened, Troy got ready for our quad ride a little early (note the helmet), my dad and Bonnie played badminton and volleyed the birdie 50 times, and Quinn hung out in the camp stroller. What fun!

Family Visit

Troy's sisters came to visit and Grandma decided we should have a photo shoot. Here is a small sampling of the fun we had.

I think Quinn felt grass for the first time. In some pics he looks like he's hating it, but the smile is so much cuter!

All the kids eating popsicles.

Troy and his sister sharing an inside joke. You never know what they're laughing at. I think this time it was a funny word from the crossword they'd done earlier in the day.

Four Months!

I can't believe it! Here are some pics of our growing boy:

We're still dealing with blocked tear ducts, but he's handsome even with eye goop.

Hands are still delicious. So are plastic rings, toys, burp cloths and mom's fingers.

This is to show what his tummy looks like when he flexes. I love the fat bunching over the muscles, especially the roll above his diaper. At his four-month checkup he tipped the scales at 17 lbs, 8 oz and is 25 inches long. And still has a massive head, in case you were curious.

Quinn and Daddy love video games (don't worry, it's football. Mom won't allow Quinn to killing games).

Tackle him, Dad! Don't let him get a touchdown!

Blankets are for the head, not the legs. Silly boy.

There you go, that's the life of Quinn!

Lots of Pics

Quinn is doing a lot of fun things lately, so here are some pics in rather random order. I will narrate.

In the last week he has become very good at tummy time. He holds his head up proudly and looks around for a while before giving up.

Quinn took his first bath in the big tub with Daddy. He wasn't too sure of it, but didn't cry. I think he enjoyed Dad's splashing (and his farmer's tan).

This pic is for two reasons: There was about a week and a half that Quinn always had his tongue sticking out. So cute! And this day he was intrigued by my lotion. He stared at it, talked to it and eventually started knocking it over.

This is how we spend our afternoons: Watching Uncles Tony and Wilbon on PTI.

Shhh. TV.

So handsome. When he's tired he gets some very thoughtful faces.

For a few days he was doing really well reaching and grabbing for things. Now I think he's lost interest and is focusing on other tasks. I'm sure we'll come back to it though.

Spring Break

We spent our Spring Break in the cold, silly us. It really wasn't exciting at all, but here are some pictures to chronicle Quinn's first trip to Utah. Unfortunately most of the time the only camera I had with me was on my phone, so most of the pics are not very good. :(

We stayed in a hotel the first night because 1) we were anxious to get the fun started and 2) we weren't sure how well Quinn would handle an eight hour drive. He seemed to LOVE his first night in a hotel: he had an entire queen sized bed to himself and slept through the night (it was a late night and early morning, but I was still very happy about that).

We stopped in Cedar City to see Troy's sister and stretch our legs. Quinn enjoyed being able to kick his legs to his heart's content. We also saw our niece and her baby, who is five months older than Quinn. Can you believe it? She is really tiny and he is big, but he does easily outweigh her. You can see how much his belly hangs over his pants!

Quinn also met Great Grandma Curtis. Unfortunately he was not on his best behavior and was a bit of a grouch. I think he just wanted to be free: lying on the floor and kicking is one of his favorite pastimes.

Dreaded tummy time. It's a lot of work to lift that Peterson head.

My cousin Jessica came down to see us with her two girls. I promise Quinn was not a grump for our trip. He was really quite well behaved. But I think he's figured out what cameras are and purposely stops cooperating when they come out. I've been trying to get a video of him "talking" for days but have been unsuccessful.

Quinn had a pretty big Easter. A second Easter Bunny actually came and left him candy and books. Notice that he finally has some boy bedding. :)

Daddy and Quinn on Easter morning. Too bad the picture is so poor.

Getting ready for his first walk in the little stroller.

We've decided that Quinn will be a fan of every team that wins a championship this year. This is a picture of his "Let's go Duke" PJs. It made for an interesting game--us cheering for Butler amid Quinn's shouts for Duke. For those interested, Quinn is a fan of the New Orleans Saints, Duke Blue Devils, and Phil Mickelson. We are really hoping the Lakers don't win the NBA championship. There would be some serious contention in our home.

When we got home we went to the fair. Quinn could care less, but Daddy had to get a picture of him next to Dad's favorite part of the fair--the cinnamon roll stand.

This actually happened before Spring Break, but it's a usual sight around here: Daddy and Quinn watching the Jazz. Pretty boring for mom.

An exciting first

In the last week Quinn has started smiling -- not often, but they are real smiles. The bummer for me is that he only smiles for Troy. That is not an exaggeration. I may get an occasional content smirk, but Troy gets gummy grins. What is the deal?!?!??!

He's Here!

That's right folks, our baby girl is a baby boy. And we are loving him!

Quinn Randall Peterson was born Sunday, January 17 at 11:56 a.m.

8 lb, 5 oz 20.5 inches

We went to the hospital Saturday evening for induction. Of course I hadn't slept much the night before and even though I didn't start feeling contractions until 4:00 a.m., I didn't get much sleep that night either. After pain, puking and passing out, by 8:30 I had my epidural (probably the best thing ever invented) and an hour and a half later I had diliated 4 more centimeters and was ready to push. Then things got tricky. They started pitocin to get regular contractions for pushing, but the baby--she at this point--didn't like it and the heart rate dropped. Troy got really worried but he hid it very well. Once they gave me oxygen his heart rate immediately recovered and I was so tired that I didn't think it was a big deal at all.

Once they had me start pushing, it became clear that this baby wasn't going to get here without help, so the midwife they originally called in to deliver attached the little suction thing to help get him through my pelvis. I thought it was simply a matter of me just not knowing how to push, but he was really stuck. No matter how hard she pulled there was no movement (keep in mind that I'm pretty oblivious to all this as it's happening). So they called in the actual doctor (hooray) and his yanking (that sounds so scary) didn't do much either. Troy said that at this point he and everyone else in the room was sure we were headed to the OR for a c-section, but they decided to give the forceps a try. Once the doctor figured out how to use them (they hardly are used at all anymore), our baby finally squeezed his way into our family.

Learning we had a boy really wasn't a shock. At our appointment a couple weeks before the doctor wasn't sure he was seeing a girl, but because he's not the ultrasound pro, couldn't say for sure. So we spent the next week and a half worried that we had an intersex baby on our hands. Let me tell you, it was a rough time. So when they said we had a boy, Troy and I weren't upset at all. Sure, we had pink clothes, but that is easy to handle.

I was then wheeled off to the OR to get stitched up and Daddy staying with the baby as they did all the regular testing. Quinn even got an x-ray to make sure his head wasn't damaged from the forceps delivery.

The worst part of the whole thing was waking up from the stitch-up. Between the epidural, general anesthesia, and having just delivered an 8 pound baby, I was miserable. The shaking was the worst, then the pressure from the swelling, add all that to running on seven hours of sleep in the last 54 hours and I was not in good shape. I remember being so overwhelmed by it all that I actually thought, "I know lots of people that want babies. I should just give this one to them." How awful of me! Now that it's over I think it's funny. I'm sure that's pretty normal because of all you've been through, but at the time, I really considered doing it. Thank goodness I didn't. He's bruised and a little yellow, but for the most part he's healthy and very happy.

I'm sure I'll have much more to say on the subject later, but for now, enjoy these pics of our little boy!

"Tanning" to keep jaundice at bay.

His standard "I'm full so leave me alone" look.

Making faces like his daddy.

We were sure he'd have obviously blue eyes, but they are VERY dark. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Baby Update

We should be parents by the time the weekend is over!! I report for induction at 7:30 Saturday night. Is that weird? Why don't they have you go in in the morning so you can (hopefully) start with a good night's sleep, rather than not get things started until it's time to go to bed? Oh well, better late than never (ha ha).

I'm still hoping she'll decide to get the show on the road earlier than that. Tomorrow would be nice. Actually, I'm really not that uncomfortable at all. Other than my legs driving me crazy when I try to go to sleep, I could handle being pregnant indefinitely. But having the baby on a long weekend is convenient for Troy and my family. And although I could be happy being pregnant for a while, Troy is not handling the waiting well. Today he informed me he was pouting because we had to wait until Saturday rather than have her tomorrow. We'll see if he's equally anxious to have her around when she's crying at 2:30 in the morning.

Ta Da

I am writing this from my house. It's a Christmas miracle. I have a sick hubby today, so if he's too sick to travel for Christmas, I'll update our blog. But if he just needs some rest and isn't going to get others sick, then you'll get a New Year's theme soon enough. Merry Christmas everyone!

Rummage Giveaway

This is our stuff before we loaded it up and said goodbye:

I don't miss it at all. It took both cars to get it down to the church and Troy made lots of trips from car to building to get it all inside.

Troy had be at the church Saturday morning to help out with the giveaway and he said it was crazy seeing all the people lined up outside and then even crazier when they opened the doors and people rushed it. He jokes that there was a lady on a rascal scooter running people over to get to the Mormon's good junk. Next time he wants to set up a video camera to film the madness.

Anyway, it was a success. I got there after everyone was inside, so I found a spot on the couch in the foyer and watched the people as they left with their treasures. I'm glad that the things I no longer wanted could help people who obviously needed them. And the missionaries every handed out a few pass-along cards, so maybe someone will find something even better than a few t-shirts and muffin tins. :)

A little story (and finally some pics)

After thinking about how we were going to fit our lives and a baby into our two-bedroom apartment, we decided that instead of sacricing our stuff, we'd just move. Add to that the constant promptings of my dad, the real estate lover. It all became too much and at the end of August we started the house hunt. I'll tell you what--any of you who live in a metro area are lucky. In Blythe we have very few options in the lower price ranges, unless of course you want to buy a dump in the ghetto. Yes, we actually have multiple ghettos in our small town. Go figure.

Nevertheless, we were optimistic. This is Troy the day we went on our first home tour:

If you can't tell, he's in a good mood. I think he's singing along with Eddie Money or something. Anyway, among many other awful sights, the visual evidence of which I deleted without thinking of this post, this summarizes our first day:

An investor's reno that looked great on the surface, but at closer inspection was trash. This is the sprayed on grass in the front yard. Highlights of other houses included a kitchen with about two cabinets, bedrooms with psychedelic carpet and extension cords powering the ceiling fans. If I had a picture of me at the end of the day, you would see I was clearly depressed.

But the search continued. We saw houses straight out of the fifties, complete with metal cabinets; houses with a reek that will likely never leave; and houses that were workable, but priced far above our comfort level. There was a foreclosure we made an offer on, but only after it had been on the market for three days (which included a weekend), there were already multiple offers besides ours, so that didn't work out for us.

Anyway, I had pretty much given up on the idea when our realtor told us about a house that was coming on the market. We made an offer the day it was listed and the owners accepted the next day. Hooray! So we're moving and I'm very excited.