Pete Turns 9 Months

Pete turned 9 months old yesterday. Our little baby is growing up so fast. Everyday we see a change in Pete whether physically or mentally. He loves to stand but forgets he needs to hold on to something to stay up so falls a lot. Most of the time he is ok but once in a while he bonks his head pretty good and needs mom to run and comfort him. I don't mind. I just hate to see him hurt. We have had dad home with us for 2 weeks now over the holidays and it has been great. I have needed the help desperately and Pete has loved all the extra time with dad. P. is such a great dad and I don't know what I am going to do when he goes back to work tomorrow. This pregnancy has taken everything out of me, literally. With Pete I was just sick. With this one, I am sick times 10 and completely exhausted . It's like my body can't find the extra energy to grow this baby. I am worried about it's health only because I don't feel healthy myself. But they say the baby will take what it needs from you at your expense, hence the way I feel I guess. I just don't know what I am going to do if this lasts 21 weeks like it did with Pete. I can't do this for another 3-4 months. But I will and it will all be worth it. Right now August seems really far away.

What else can I update you on......
Well, since I haven't really blogged on anything in over a month I will give you a quick update. Christmas was really nice. Katie was home for a week and we spent a couple days up north with my in-laws. Besides having morning sickness all through Christmas it was a good time for all. Pete had no idea what was going on but it was great to share it all with him anyway. I got a baby video monitor that I love. It works in the dark. Now I can sit and stare at my baby boy all night long and never have to go in to check on him. We stayed home and went to bed before midnight on New Year's Eve. To sum up 2008...pregnant, had a baby, baby is 9 months old, pregnant again. What a year. Best of my life. Being a mom is the best, and hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life. And having a partner like P. makes it all that much better, and easier. 2009 hasn't started out that well but I plan on it getting better. We all came down with a stomach bug and spent days sick or recovering. Like I needed a stomach bug....Ha.

December in MI was terrible. We had record breaking amounts of snow, freezing temps every day and get this less than 4% sunshine. 8 hours of sunshine all month. 8 hours. Not 8 days, 8 hours. Ugh. 2009 resolution, move somewhere warmer.

So I am done with my update and ready for bed. I miss blogging I just don't have the energy for it much anymore. Enjoy a sweet video of Pete laughing with dad. These laughs make it all worth it.
And here is a picture of our big boy in his little boy bathtub. I guess it's time to move him to the tub.

Mommy's Pregnant!!!!!

I had such grand plans for announcing my pregnancy on my blog for all to see. I was going to come up with a cute way to share the news, talk about how we found out, how I was feeling and put it all up here Christmas Day as our "Christmas surprise". Instead, I waited and I got sick. And boy am I sick. I thought I was sick with Pete, and I was, but this time I am SICK, SICK. Like can't get out of bed, if I do just head straight to the bathroom sick. So, this is my announcement, short but sweet. And yes, it is still sweet news. We are thrilled. Our baby is due August 7, 2009 and I am currently 8 weeks along. I would write more but I want to go to bed. The only time I don't feel sick is when I am sleeping. Here are some hilarious pictures of Pete right after I took my pregnancy test. I came out of the bathroom, he had just woken up from a nap, and gave him the test to see. I gave him a big kiss and realized, maybe he shouldn't be holding the test I just peed on. So I took it back and he wasn't happy about that. Honestly, Pete never cries. He never gets upset about anything but this time he wanted that test back. I grabbed my camera, gave it back to him and got a classic shot of what looks like his reaction to the news.

Here are a few pictures from this weekend of our little man and the dogs. This morning I caught all three of them watching the snow fall in the backyard.

Here is Pete all bundled up on the way to the mall today. Yes, despite the blizzard we ventured out to the mall. I needed to get out of the house and P. needed to stop by work to take care of something. I say "cheese" and he smiles at me. Normally he squeezes his eyes closed but today he wasn't that into it. Pete loves the dogs bed. I hate that he does because he comes out of it with his knees all covered in dog hair but it is really cute to see him sitting in it either by himself or with Serra. Abby won't stay if Pete is around. Tonight Serra and Pete were like a Hallmark card. She was looking at him, he was looking at her, you could see the interest and curiosity while they hung out.
The weather here has been ridiculous lately. How do I explain to my family and friends in CA what we go through every day here? I can't. My friends and family told me they were "freezing" this last week in Southern CA. Temps in the 40's! 40's!!!!! What would I give for a day in the 40's. Most days we are lucky to get out of the 20's, lately with windchills we stay in the teens. Here are a couple of pictures of our grocery store parking lot today. With more to come Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we are uncertain of our holiday travels and ready for spring to come.Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas this week. We are especially excited about our first Christmas with our son. He has made our life better than I ever could have imagined. Stay tuned for holiday updates and pictures. See ya back here on Christmas day.....

Oh, and one more picture of our baby boy pulling himself up on the coffee table to say hi....and find something to play with. (Rachel, do the pajamas in these pictures look familiar? Thank you!!!!)

My Family

Hanging out together today. By the way, the dogs were just sitting that way on their own, butt to butt. No strategic placing for the photo by us. Cute huh?

Sweet Pete

A couple cute pictures of Pete from this week. He is crawling all over and pushing himself up on things to stand. He loves the kitchen cabinets but can't quite open them himself yet. He sits in front of it and grunts until I open it for him then he pulls out whatever he can get his hands on. Because he is so active now I couldn't leave him alone while I went to get the laundry tonight so I put him in the laundry basket and carried him with me. He thought it was hilarious.

Pete Chasing His Crackers

Pete is cruising. Here is a video of daddy making him chase after his cracker biscuit. In the end Pete gets a bite of biscuit and daddy sneaks in a kiss. I love when Pete stops for a second and sticks his bottom up in the air then keeps going. Makes me laugh every time. Pete is such a joy. I have loved every stage of his life so far from the couple day old little blob in my arms to the reactive, silly 8 month old crawling and exploring this world.

There were times this weekend when I felt overwhelming contentment. I felt like I couldn't ask for anything else in this world that would make me any happier than how I felt right then. On the way to the mall Saturday I heard the Martina McBride song Blessed. I never really paid much attention to this song and to tell you the truth, never really liked it that much. But Saturday the words spoke right to me and I knew then that this was exactly how I felt about my life.

Here is a little bit of the song:

I think to myself, I think to myself
This world is a beautiful place
I have been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones
That love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

Here is another short video of Pete. He does this thing where when you say "Petesy wins!" he puts his arms up in the air like a celebration or touchdown. Love it. Check it out.

And last but not least a picture from the ITT Christmas Party Saturday night. Good times with our good friends Rachel and John.

Watch out! Pete is on the move!

It took Pete about a week to go completely mobile. He is officially into everything. We have a step into our kitchen and he figured out how to get up it in about 3 minutes on Thanksgiving night. He loves to crawl around and find the dog's toys and put them in his mouth. He crawls right past his own toys. The Christmas decorations on the floor or near to the ground are in danger of being destroyed by the end of this year. Some have scared him quite a bit when they fall over next to or onto him. We have had a lot of falls and bumps on the head lately. He will forget to hold himself up as he reaches for something and topple over, usually face first. He cries, mama picks him up and we get a little cuddling time in before he wants to get down and move again.

Here are funny pictures of him getting into the Christmas stuff. Good thing our tree is high enough off the ground that he can't quite reach it. Not that he didn't try.Checking out the baby bottle tree my dad made from hand years ago. Check out this hilarious face he made after the Santa fall over. Chewing on an electrical cord. And a couple pics of our recent snowfall. Here is P. out snow blowing our driveway. Our backyard.

Thankful

What a wonderful holiday. Wed. night we went out and got a tree so that when Omi and Opa were here they could decorate it with us. It was freezing outside but it was so fun to pick a tree for the first time with Pete with us. Here is a picture of us and our tree. It's smaller than what we normally get but perfectly shaped and easier to handle.Here are a couple pictures of Thanksgiving day. One of Opa, P., Serra and Pete hanging out watching the Detroit Lions get killed and one of our decorated tree.Friday we went to the mall and there was no line to take pictures with Santa so we asked if we could use our camera and take a few. They were happy to let us and Mrs. Claus even took one of all of us. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is enjoying the weekend with family and friends. Thanks for sharing in these special times with us. All our love and holiday wishes.....

Pete Crawls

Pete crawled forward tonight! As you can hear in the video, I was very excited for him because he has been trying so hard lately to figure out how to move forward. The tears were tears of joy and sadness, another milestone reached for Pete, our baby is growing up and there is no turning back. But how fun it was to see him put one hand in front of the other, move his back legs, and crawl. Wow.

Pete Tries Cheerios

So this lady at P.'s work has been feeding her 9 month old finger foods for months now. After speaking with her last Friday we decided to throw a few Cheerios in front of Pete and see what happened. Funny how everything you don't want Pete to put in his mouth he puts in and the things you want him to try such as a bottle, sippy cup and finger foods, he wants nothing to do with. So, I put a Cheerio in Pete's mouth for him. After a bunch of hilarious faces, some coughing and gagging, a red face and a look of "help me" in his eyes, it finally went down and we put the Cheerios away. I never thought it would be so funny to see your child struggle with something. We put the finger foods away for now but got a few really great pictures out of the whole adventure.

Colorado

It was so good to finally get back to CO after 3 years away. We saw so many friends and enjoyed our time with all of them. Time did not allow for us to see everyone so I am already praying for another chance to get back there soon. P. and I were able to visit the Navigators, where we originally met 6 years ago. It was fun to take Pete up there and see all our friends and former co-workers and tell him this is where our story began. Look how far we have come. Colorado was beautiful. Not the green lush beautiful MI is but a different beauty. I had forgotten how awesome the mountains are and how stunning the sunsets are behind them. Everywhere we drove I found myself looking up towards the mountains like I used to do when I lived there. They are truly amazing and I felt like I couldn't get enough of them. We spent the 5 days with our closest friends, checking and working on our rental homes and of course, trying to make sure Pete got in a nap here and there. Words cannot even begin to explain how great Pete was on our trip. He spent all day traveling out there and back and never once fussed or cried about anything. He was happy, content and well behaved. When we got off the plane about 5 different people stopped us and complimented us on our good baby boy. I was so proud. At the end of every day there I thanked God for blessing us with such a sweet baby. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful child who brings us so much joy. Everyone loved him and couldn't get enough of him out there. And of course I was so proud of him and my husband, I felt like I was smiling for 5 days straight. Well, Pete is awake from his nap and I am writing this as fast as I can while he is being patient with me waiting in his room all alone. Here are some pictures from our trip. Again, it was so hard to pick my favorites. Here are just a few of the two hundred great pictures we have from our trip to CO. Maybe the Lord will allow for us to move back there someday. Maybe that's His plan. Maybe not. Enjoy and thanks to everyone in the Springs who made time to see us, feed us, spend time with us and who after all these years are still our friends no matter the distance between us.

P. and Pete at a rest stop in Indiana. Pete's first time in IN. It was cold and rainy.Pete and I at Glen Eyrie Castle on the Navigators property, one of my favorite places in the world to take in the beauty of God's creation, and spend time with my friend Erin. The Navigators, our former place of employment and where we met. Garden of the Gods.Our friends the Bradleys at their home.Me, Pete, my friend Beth and her daughter Hazel.Me and Erin in her new home.

Pete's First Snow

Lot's of Stuff

Lot's going on lately for us. Too much to catch you up in much detail so I will post pictures that will tell the story.

Facebook brought my high school friend Jamie and I back together again recently. Gotta love Facebook! Jamie made Pete a tag blanket and sent it to him this week. He loves it, can you tell? Those tags are so yummy to eat! Thanks Jamie and it is so great to have you a part of my life again! Saturday P. and I went to see Reba and Kelly Clarkson here in Grand Rapids. I can't even explain how much fun we had. We went to dinner first, then got there in time to hang out and take some pictures in our awesome seats. We were in the 6th row up, 1st level. I have never been that close to Reba in my life and I was thrilled. The concert was amazing. Seriously, no words right now can effectively explain how great our night was. Thanks babe for taking me out on the best date ever! That's Reba, right behind me! Our sitter/friend Kari took this picture of Pete while we were gone at the concert. Doesn't look like he is missing his parents too much does it? Glad we have a babysitter that Pete loves so much. He is giving these hilarious eyes closed smiles now when we take pictures of him. And last but not least, Katie came home this weekend. She has spent two days with us and is leaving to go home tonight. It has been a busy, fun filled visit with her. She loves her little brother and Pete adores her because she is silly and fun to watch. Here's Katie feeding Pete oatmeal.P., Katie, Natalie and Kiwi at a dog show we went to Sunday. This dog was so sweet. Kinda like a Boxer but a more manageable size. Pete at the dog show.The kids and Pete in his new cute dog outfit from Omi.
Well, better go. More to come. Love to all and hope everyone has a great week. Oh, one more thing, we had had our first official snow yesterday. Not exciting for me, but exciting because it was another first for Pete. And as long as we live here in MI it is his first of many, many more.

Obama!

I took this picture of Pete with his Future Voter sticker on and his funny face makes him look like he is saying Obama! Or as P. would say, No-bama! I don't like to talk politics so I won't. Neither candidate excited me and when I voted I went with my gut not my faith or party affiliation. I still feel I voted for the lesser of two evils, not that they are evil people, but I think that is the way the saying goes. I hope Obama can make the changes this nation says they need. I hope he can protect us as well as Bush has these past 7 years. I am encouraged to see the excitement and optimism this election has stirred up in the American people. I just hope they are not disappointed.

We joke, Pete, our future voter, first Asian President of the United States.

Weekend With the Family

Here are some pics from this past weekend. Pete and I spent a few days with family while P. went hunting with his buddies. It was fun to spend time with my in-laws, niece, nephew and brother-in-law. There isn't a whole bunch to do in West Branch, MI but we spent the time playing cards, eating, playing on the computer and even did a little shopping for Pete. Thanks to Omi and Opa for having us and taking care of us while P. was away.And here is a short video of Pete trying to crawl while we were at Omi and Opa's. His cousins were very encouraging and helpful in his attempts to get the cell phone.