Hello from Cool and Mild New Jersey!!!

We arrived in New Jersey on Friday, and we've had a great time visiting lots of family so far. The weather is AWESOME - highs in the 80s. I think this is the way that summer was intended to be. Our trip here was uneventful. This is the first time that Andrew has flown with us to New Jersey, so it was nice to have him on the plane. He and Peter spent some time standing up and walking around the back of the plane. We left the house a little after 4am Friday, and we were at the airport by 5am. Andrew dropped Peter and me off (along with the luggage) and parked the car. We waited on the curb for him to come back and help with the suitcases. I think Peter was wondering why we were dragging him out of the house at such an early hour. Our plane was delayed by about 30 minutes, so Peter spent some time playing and eating donuts at the gate. Once we boarded, the flight was about 3 1/2 hours long. Although he only slept about 30 minutes, Peter did a great job on the flight.

Here are a few pictures from our trip so far...

Aunt Amy borrowed some toys for Peter to play with.

Peter is composing his first masterpiece!

Aunt Lois stopped by for a visit.
Cousin Lauren came all the way from North Carolina to visit.
Grandma bought Peter a little pool to play in.

Even Daddy joined in the fun. :)

Peter got to taste pizza for the first time. He loved it, of course. :)

Aunt Joan also came to visit all the way from North Carolina.

Grandma Hazen celebrated her 85th birthday this month, so we went out to celebrate. Aunt Kathy came from Michigan.

Kim, Uncle Dave (from Michigan), and Peter get ready to enjoy dinner.
There were 3 birthdays in July, so we celebrated all of them with a special cake made my Amy and Kara.
I think cousin Justin is enjoying Peter's toy just as much as Peter enjoys it!
The three birthday girls - Grandma (85), Aunt Debbie (45), and Emily (13).
Even Peter got to have cake and ice cream.
Peter is really into touching faces these days. He and Abby enjoy each other's company.
After a busy day of partying, Peter took a bath and was in bed by 7:30.

Just in case you were wondering...

I sauteed squash and zucchini (another first for me) tonight for dinner, and Peter ate it. I added garlic, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese. He also ate pasta and chicken. I guess he just prefers his veggies whole and not pureed!

We leave for New Jersey in the morning, so I need to go finish packing. We have to leave for the airport EARLY, so I am going to try to get a little sleep.

For all of my New Jersey readers...see you tomorrow! :)

Hooray for Pancakes!!!

I went out of my comfort zone today and made pancakes for breakfast. I know that some of you are thinking, "Umm, pancakes are so easy to make. Why was that out of your comfort zone?"

The batter is easy - just add water. :) The pouring onto the pan is easy. It's the flipping that I am not so crazy about. Here's why...

I worked at a Christian camp called Camp Peniel every summer during college. At the end of the summer, most of the staff would take a trip to Lake City, Colorado and camp in the mountains for a week. Lake City is AMAZING. If you have not been there, I highly recommend it. There were quite a few of us, so we would take turns cooking breakfast and dinner. We would be in groups of 3-4 for this task. We had a campfire, a propane stove, and running water that you had to walk several campsites over to get. So one of the meals I had to help prepare was pancakes. For the life of me, I couldn't flip my pancakes without the batter going everywhere. I happily gave that job to another person and cooked sausages instead. That was about 10 years ago, and I have always had this fear that I would never learn to flip pancakes. Instead of trying to learn, I just didn't do it.

Until today...

Peter is pretty much completely on table food. He still eats a little baby food here and there, but he prefers to eat what we eat. Last weekend he ate mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, chicken afredo, cheese enchiladas, rice, and beans. So far this week he's had chicken fingers (which I made), potatoes, macaroni and cheese, apricots, applesauce, hamburger, french fries, and pancakes. Don't worry - we are working on the vegetables!!!

Now that he likes table food, I have to really make sure that I am making things for him that he enjoys and can eat. Staying home this summer has definitely given me time to do that, so I tried pancakes today. They turned out well, and I think he enjoyed them...

Maybe I'll try french toast some time...yet another food that I had to make in Lake City that never did turn out quite right...

The Word of the Day is...

SIMPLIFY

Ok, so actually I think the "Word of the Year" is simplify. This is exactly what I need and want to do...simplify.

I was cleaning out my pantry this afternoon while Peter napped. I found three containers of onion powder. Three containers! What in the world do I need three containers of onion powder for? No, it wasn't on sale. No, I don't have a HUGE party coming up that I will need to prepare tons of food for. I think what probably happened was that I couldn't find one container, so I bought another. Then I couldn't find either of those, so I bought a third.

This is the reason I need to simplify. My entire house is like that. I cannot find something, so I end up buying something else. If my house was more organized (which simplifying will help to do), then I would be able to find things instead of buying another.

So this is my goal. It has taken me almost 7 months to decide this, but I have decided. My goal for the rest of 2008 is to simplify...simplify my home, my belongings, my schedule, my routines...simplify.

Stay tuned...

7 years ago today...

...I married my best friend.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

I love you!!!

First Kiss - 7/9/08

Peter's first kiss was by an older woman! Sydney (11 months older) kissed Peter at Radijazz on Wednesday. Then they sat together in a canoe...This could be the start of something big! :)

Just hanging out...

Hey Mom...Can I have a subscription to this magazine?

Peter has another cold...yuck! He's been doing so much better at night, but I have a feeling that this cold may set him back. Hopefully he will be over it soon! We were supposed to go to Ready Set Play! with playgroup, but I didn't want to risk Peter passing his cold to the other kids. We played at home for a while, and then we went up to the mall. Peter is very observant, so he really enjoys being in his stroller and looking around. He also enjoys talking to the toys that I attach to his stroller...

He has been coughing quite a bit, so I'm sure he's going to wake up several times tonight. I better get some sleep while I can! Goodnight!! :)

Swim Lesson Graduate

Peter is now an official graduate of the Round Rock Infant Swim Lesson Class!!!

Radijazz!

Peter, Rebecca, Sydney, and I found a new play place yesterday called Radijazz. The entire place is foam and carpet, so it's great for small children. There are quite a few slides, lots of things to climb on and in, and a huge foam pit. Peter and Sydney had a GREAT time!

9 Month Stats

19 lbs 10.5 oz (35th percentile)

29 inches (74th percentile)

Peter's favorite part of the visit was tearing up the paper on the table!

Sleeping...or the lack thereof...

Sleep is something that I have not gotten much of lately. Now I realize that some of you are thinking..."You have a baby. You know that new moms don't get much sleep."

You are right. I understand that my sleeping habits will never be the same as they were before having Peter, and I'm ok with that. However, I know that my son needs sleep, and I have to figure out a way to help him get that.

Peter hasn't always been a bad sleeper. He actually slept through the night when he was three months old. Then he started waking up once (or sometimes twice) a night to eat, but I could handle that. Then he turned 6 months old. He was sick for quite a while, and he started waking up every 1.5-3 hours. Because he was sick, I went to him every single time and fed him to get him back to sleep. 3 months later, he is still on that schedule.

After talking with the doctor at his 9 month checkup, we decided that Peter is most likely not getting enough milk during the day. He tries to make up for it at night by nursing 3-4 times. The doctor told me to cut back on his solids intake to get him to nurse more during the day. As long as he is getting enough milk during the day, he should be able to go most of the night without needed to eat.

So I have done that. I give him a few ounces of solid foods a day, but I try to make sure that most of his nourishment comes from breastmilk. He is getting more milk during the day now, so that is good. However, his night-waking is a habit at this point. I really think that it won't matter if he's hungry or not - he is waking up due to pure habit.

I've googled "night weaning breastfeeding", and it didn't help. Almost all of the articles talk about night-weaning toddlers. Whoa!!! If my 2 1/2 year old is still waking up to nurse in the middle of the night, that is a huge problem in my book. Several of the links also talked about co-sleeping, something that I am trying to stop doing, not start so that Peter can just nurse whenever he wants all night long.

So, after the advice of several friends and lots of prayer, we are trying to cut down on his nighttime feedings slowly by letting him cry for a little while before just jumping up to go in his room. After last night, I really feel like there is hope.

Peter was in bed by 8pm. He woke up around 9:30, but he cried for just a second before falling back to sleep. He woke up again at 11:15. We listened to him cry for 15 minutes, and then he was back asleep. I was really happy that it wasn't longer, because it was so hard to listen to him just crying in bed. He kept saying "m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m" which is what we are pretty sure he says when he wants me.

When he woke up again at 1:15am, I went and fed him. He was back asleep by 2am, and then he slept until 6:30am. I was almost upset at 6:30 that he was awake for the day, but then I realized that I got more sleep last night then I have gotten in a long time. I got him out of bed, fed him, and took him downstairs. He was able to see Andrew before Andrew left for work, and then Peter and I went for a walk. The weather was great, and we really enjoyed our walk. We even saw a rabbit hanging out by a tree.

Here are a few pics from our walk this morning...

Thank you...

To all of the men and women in our armed forces...

Thank you...

Thank you for giving of your time, talents, and lives so that my son can grow up in a free country.

It's a Small World After All...

Peter is getting ready for his first swimming lesson...

Peter has been taking swimming lessons this week, and he LOVES it! We go for 25 minutes each day for 2 weeks. We are really enjoying being in the water with other mommies and babies. Peter even went underwater for the first time today! There are 2 teenage girls that teach our class. They both graduated high school in May and are headed off to college. I knew one of them looked very familiar, and after the first class, we figured out why. She was in my 7th grade math class the first year that I taught! She told me that I was one of her favorite teachers that year. It was a rough year, so that was nice to know. I was also happy to know that she successfully completed high school and passed all of her math classes. It really is a small world after all...