Peterson Family

Family Photos 2011

2011-11-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hello! I'm alive! Things have been pretty crazy around here lately, and it won't be letting up any time soon. I just thought I would share these family pictures we had taken last week. Enjoy!

They're just from JCPenney, so they aren't all that great. But we paid the exorbitant price they asked for the CD with copyright rights, so if any of you family members would like copies, let us know!

First Pigtails

2011-09-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

Sarah's hair has been at a very awkward length for a while now. We try to keep clips in it to keep the hair out of her face, but she pulls them right out.

It's just barely starting to be long enough to put into pigtails. :) Whenever I can get her to sit still long enough, that is.

Here are a couple pictures from the first time we did it:

I'm still pretty bad at it, but I guess I'll get lots of practice in the years to come!

Funny Girl

2011-09-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Sarah was throwing a tantrum in my lap while I was sitting at the computer yesterday, so I looked around to see what I could do to calm her down and saw the camera. I grabbed it, and Sarah immediately stopped crying and gave me a cheesy smile and said "cheeeeeese!"

I quickly changed the mode on the camera to video to see what she would do.

Here's my squirmy little girl:

My favorite part is when she said "Ba-Pa" for Grandpa. She said this one for the first time when we were Skyping with my family on Sunday. It's so cute. :)

Baseball in the Backyard!

2011-09-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

Ask James and Paul what their favorite part of the new house is, and they will both probably tell you the same thing: the backyard! We've got a lot of work to do on it before it looks good. The "lawn" isn't much to speak of, and there are weeds everywhere. But that doesn't keep us from having fun!

Yesterday we had a laid back Labor Day. We started the day out right with fried rice for breakfast and then baseball in the backyard! What could be better? :)

Happy spectators, ready for a good show:

A few helpful tips from coach:

Ready...

Swing!

Our proud little baseball player to be:

And Sarah, our cute little bat girl, shagging balls with the best of them:

Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day!

And So It Begins

2011-08-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today James and I embarked on the adventure I have been dreading the most about motherhood...*dramatic pause*...potty training. Yep. I have avoided it long enough under the guise of waiting for James to be "ready". Fact is, James would be happy to stay in diapers for years to come. He couldn't care less that he's a late bloomer in this area. He is, however, ready...and probably has been for some time now.

What with vacations and moving into our house, this summer has been too crazy to take on potty training on top of it all. But we're here now, and we're settled, and frankly, I've run out of excuses.

Our first day in this new world had ups and downs, but fortunately mostly ups. This morning we pulled out the Thomas the Tank Engine underwear and went for it. We set a timer for regular intervals, starting at 10 minutes and gradually adding time. We settled in at every 20 minutes, stretching up to 30 at the very end of the day. It seemed to work pretty well. We only had one accident, and there were even several times where James told me of his own accord that he had to go before the timer went off.

He filled up his sticker chart (which he has been working on since our very first feeble attempts at potty training many months ago) and earned himself a new book which he can read all by himself!

Sarah was pretty proud of her big brother, too:

All in all, it was a good first day.

Let's hope day two (and day three and day four...) goes just as well!

Hooray for summer...

2011-08-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

...and corn on the cob! :)

Today was Sarah's first experience with corn on the cob, and we're pretty sure she liked it.

James, did too. :)

We're alive!

2011-08-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? I'm actually posting on our blog! I'm pretty certain I have never gone quite that long without updating before. We have had a BUSY summer. It's been full of trips and family and moving into our first home! I haven't been able to get good pictures of the house yet, but I will definitely get to that soon.

One of my biggest excuses for not posting on the blog is the ridiculously bad luck we've had with computers and technology lately. Our computers all decided to die at the same time. Even Paul's old laptop that we always used as a back up decided to give up the ghost.

Even now, the only reason I have a computer to blog from is that a coworker of Paul's was kind enough (brave enough?) to let us borrow a desktop of his that he wasn't using. We still have to figure out our situation, but until then, here's a cute video of my daughter who is growing up way too fast: (Please excuse her nasty face and shirt. She had just eaten lunch and managed to get it everywhere.)

Isn't she cute? :) Hopefully you can see past that disgusting shirt to that adorable face. You'll be happy to know that the stain from that lunch came out completely in the laundry. Thank you, Shout! :)

J-A-M-E-S

2011-05-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

In the last few days, James has become very interested in writing and spelling his name. If you ask him how to spell his name, he'll proudly say "J-A-M-E-S".

Yesterday, he was playing with letter magnets on the fridge and he said, "Look I spelled James!" I looked over and he had put A-M-E-S together. He was just missing the J! After I helped him find the J he spelled his name on the fridge all day long.

Today, he decided he wanted to draw. He drew for a while and then brought the picture over to show me. He drew Lightning McQueen (so cute! I'm so glad his faces are starting to smile instead of frown!) and sure enough, he wrote JAMES:

Sorry for the poor quality picture. The crayon color was too light to be picked up by our scanner. The 'J' is backwards, but it's totally legible! He wrote it with no coaching or prompts from me. I'm so proud of my boy!

What's this? A Sunny Day?

2011-05-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Here in Oregon we are finally starting to see some sunny days mixed in with the dreary rain. Today's high is forecast to be 71 degrees! As soon as I saw that, I knew we needed to get outside for some much needed vitamin D. :) We packed up a picnic lunch, bought some sidewalk chalk and bubbles, and headed to the park with our good friends Claudia and Claire.

I was sure to slather on the sunscreen and cover my kids' heads. They are true Pacific Northwesterners, and they don't know what to do with themselves when the sun comes out.

James and Claire had a wonderful time running around and playing on the playground.

What a goofy grin! I think he was having fun, don't you? ;)

Sarah was content to stay on the blanket with me and Claudia and play with the sidewalk chalk.

Ah, what a glorious day! Beautiful sunshine, kids having fun, food to eat, and good friends!

Counting

2011-04-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

James is learning new things every day. He has recently made leaps and bounds of progress on his letters and numbers. He now recognizes all his letters and has started associating sounds with about 1/3 of them. He also can count things pretty reliably up to 20 (although he still skips 15 off and on).

Within the last month or so he basically taught himself to recognize the digits 1 through 9 using the laptop toy he got for Christmas a couple years ago (thanks again Grandma and Grandpa Peterson!). He was trying to answer questions about how many of various shapes were on the screen. He would count them (correctly) but then he didn't know how to find the number to press on the keyboard. I showed him that the numbers were in green along the top row of the keyboard, and demonstrated that if he started counting from the left from 1, he could find the number he was looking for. I really only showed him this a couple times before he got the hang of it. After that, it was only a matter of days before he connected the number with it's corresponding digit. I had no idea he knew his numbers until one day he pointed a number out correctly on one of his toys. I started quizzing him on them, and he got them all right! He is one incredible boy, and he amazes us every day.

Here's a video of James doing some counting:

The SD card on the camera filled up right in the middle, so I had to take a break and clear it off before I could finish. Here's the second part where he identifies his numbers even when they are out of order:

Next, I'll try and get a video of him showing his letters and their sounds. :) I realized it has been a while since I updated the blog about this type of thing, and I want to fix that!

Easter Morning

2011-04-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny visited our house yesterday, and he left tracks! :) Here's a video of what Sarah and James woke up to yesterday (it's a bit long):

And here are our beautiful children dressed up for church:

Fun Times

2011-03-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

If you give a boy a cardboard box (or two)...

...he'll be happy forever!

While playing with these boxes in the living room, James said to me and Paul, "This is my room!" We logged that information away for when we're househunting. ;) The kid sure doesn't need much space!

Also, for your enjoyment, here is a short video of Sarah giggling. It's been a lot harder to catch her laughing on camera than it was James. As usual, her best laughs happened before the camera came out. It's still pretty cute though, if I do say so myself. :)

I can't believe this little girl is 10 months old today!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

A Train!

2011-03-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

Speaking of growing up too fast, here's a drawing James did of a train this morning. I scanned it into the computer, so hopefully you can see it ok. I thought it was adorable.

James finished it and said, "Look Mommy! It's a steam engine! I did a boiler and I did steam!" He is too smart. And I LOVE his drawings. :)

Growing Up Too Fast

2011-03-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

My kids are officially growing up too fast. Nothing I do can seem to slow it down!

James is three now. Three! I have a three year old. He is really an amazing kid. He loves to do puzzles and will sit down and put together 48 piece puzzles all by himself. He plays games like memory and Hi Ho Cherrio. He sits with his little laptop toy and his Alphie robot (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Peterson!) and teaches himself games. He gets most of the answers right! He knows almost all his letters by sight and is starting to learn their sounds. He is starting to recognize his numbers and can count to 20. He draws adorable pictures of trains and people and monsters.

He recently went to the dentist for the first time. He was so brave and even let them clean his teeth!

He keeps us smiling and laughing every day and constantly amazes us with his level of comprehension. If only he would show an interest in becoming potty trained. ;)

Sarah decided last Saturday that it was time to grow up. She crawls with her belly off the ground 90% of the time, and she pulls herself up to standing at things. (Both of those things she suddenly did basically all at once last Saturday afternoon.) She is so beautiful, and I look at her in awe every day. I can't believe she is 9 months old already!

Here is a video of another new skill Sarah picked up in the last couple days. :)

Does anyone know how to keep kids from growing up? I think I need to know.

Ballgame Redux

2011-02-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

This is the other video Michael took for us over the weekend. I know James has done a better job with this song in the past, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share his cute, raspy sick voice.

More Scooting/Crawling

2011-02-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

Sarah is on the verge of figuring out how to crawl with her belly off the ground. Lately, she starts on all fours, moves for a little bit, and then gives up and goes back to her trusty army crawl.

Last weekend, Michael Ciaglo was here, and he took a couple of really great videos with his awesome camera (he is very talented). This is one of them that shows Sarah trying to crawl. Thanks, Michael!

Sarah also figured out how to pull herself to standing in her crib this week. The only problem is, once she's there, she doesn't know how to get back down. Poor thing!

James Still Loves to Sing!

2011-02-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

James just loves to sing. He starts singing as soon as he wakes up in the morning (much to my chagrin sometimes, since he shares a room with Sarah), and he keeps on singing off and on all day long. He sings theme songs from TV shows ("Welcome to our world, Word World!"), jingles from commercials ("Pop, pop! Fizz, fizz! Oh, what a relief it is!"), little snippets of songs from musicals that he has heard me sing ("Can do! Can do! This guy says the horse can do!"), and, of course, he sings primary songs which he learns from us and from nursery. Today, we made a video of him singing "I am a Child of God", since it has been so long since I've posted a video of him singing. Just before we recorded it, he was giving some of his toys a nap, and he kept switching between singing it in Japanese and singing it in English. :)

James has a bit of a cold right now, so his nose and upper lip are a little bit raw. :( He's in good spirits, though, so hopefully he's on the mend!

Scooting

2011-01-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

Sarah doesn't like to perform on command, unlike her older brother, who loves the attention. It's been pretty hard for me to get a good video of Sarah scooting. She's gotten pretty good at getting anywhere she wants to go. She's even starting to try and get her belly off the ground a bit.

On Saturday morning I enlisted Paul's help in making a video. It worked a lot better than when it's just me. :)

I can't believe my little Sarah is eight months old this week!

Freight Train!

2011-01-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

James' favorite book changes with his mood. However, one of his very favorites almost any day is Freight Train. Thank you, Grandma Hansen, for such a fun book!

Today, James and I decided to build a freight train out of playdough. (Ok, ok, I'll confess. James just said, "Let's make a train!" And I thought, "Oh my goodness! We have all the colors to make the train from that book!" So I took the idea and ran with it. Silly mommy!)

James absolutely loved it. Here's a video of him "reading" the book and showing off his cool train. (Sorry for the shaky video. I had to hold Sarah while I filmed so that she wouldn't scream. She's going through a Cling to Mommy phase.)

Unfortunately, after we made the video, James had to learn the sad lesson that playdough creations have a very short life span and we had to squish it and put it away so the playdough wouldn't dry out. What a hard lesson for a toddler to learn! He got over it pretty quickly (now he's making towers out of the playdough containers and knocking them down), but he cried big tears first!

A Chat with Sarah

2010-12-14T12:38:00.000-08:00

It's a lot harder to catch Sarah babbling on video than it was with James (see this video from when James was Sarah's age). I've tried several times, and so far this is the best one we've gotten. I happen to especially like this one because until now, much to Paul's excitement, Sarah's favorite syllable to babble has been "Da". Today she decided to give me some love too, and switched to "Ma". :) She's so funny. She likes to whisper her sounds. Maybe it's to counteract her loud and rambunctious older brother. I don't know, but it sure is cute!

Sarah Loves her Bouncer

2010-11-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

I thought this was so funny. She had already been doing it for a while before I got the camera out. So funny!

Scooting is on the horizon!

2010-11-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

In the last week or two, Sarah has really started trying to figure out how to scoot. She gets frustrated when something is just barely out of reach. She has started using this method where she leans all the way to one side and pushes with her feet while reaching with her arms and then leans to the other side and does the same thing. It's slow going, but she does make progress! I've noticed in the last day or two that she is starting to get her knees underneath her from time to time. Before we know it, she's going to figure it out!

This is one of those videos that really only family will probably like. It's on the boring and long side of things. But I noticed that she was moving towards the blocks James had been playing with, so I ran and grabbed the camera as quickly as I could. I just caught the tail end of it on the video. Hopefully you can get the idea of what she does.

Crazy, crazy! Her older brother was just about this age when he figured out the army crawl. Maybe Sarah is more like him than we thought!

Sarah and James

2010-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share a couple pictures of my cute kids. :) They sure love each other!

Still Halloween?

2010-11-16T13:47:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, next week is Thanksgiving. I just couldn't move on to the next holiday before sharing our pumpkin carving adventures with you all. On the Friday before Halloween, Natalie and her roommate came over and we had a good time carving our pumpkins.

We all dove right into the gross pumpkin guts, except for James. James needed a bit more...coaxing.

Aren't we terrible parents for posting that video online? I know. I just couldn't help it. He warmed up to the idea after that.

And here are the pumpkins!

Paul and I took our inspiration from Becca and Katie's halloween costumes, and went with a Mario theme. This was the first time we tried anything fancy together. I did the drawing, and Paul did the cutting. :)

Ok, now we can move on to Thanksgiving!

There was a farmer, had a pig...

2010-11-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

...and Sarah was her name-o?

You know, it's really hard to get good pictures of a toddler and a baby at the same time. Exceedingly hard. Here are the best pictures we got before we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat last Saturday.

Sarah made a really cute pig. And she even kept the nose on the whole time because she figured out that she could suck on the bottom of it. :) James liked dressing up like a farmer, mostly because of the cowboy hat.

Maybe we'll get better Halloween pictures next year...

Pumpkin Patch Trip!

2010-10-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

James and I have gone to the Pumpkin Patch every year since we moved here. This year we brought Paul, Natalie, and Sarah along with us! :) We had a fun time, even if it was a little rainy and chilly out.

There were a few animals to see.

It's too bad I don't have a picture of James next to this scarecrow from last year! Then we could see how much he has grown.

He really didn't want to stand next to it for some reason. Maybe the scarecrow scared him!

Sarah stayed dry and warm with her daddy the whole time:

James thought the little boat was pretty cool (after he got over his initial fear). He sure loves his aunt Natalie!

Natalie helped James find the perfect pumpkin. The stem is shaped like a handle, so he could pick it up by himself.

Then, we got to ride a little train back from the patch to the barn area. This was by far James' favorite part. Like most boys, he just loves trains!

Sarah liked it, too. :)

It sure is beautiful up here. I really do feel blessed to live in such a beautiful place.

I think we have a new family tradition. :)

Thanks for coming with us, Natalie! It was so much fun!

Four Month Stats

2010-10-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe a month has passed since I shared those last pictures! Time is flying by as usual!

This week Sarah had her four month check up. It was a little delayed since we went to Utah at the end of September and then our pediatrician was out of town. She's actually going to be five months old next week! So crazy!

Here are her latest statistics:

weight: 14 lbs 2 oz (43rd percentile)

height: 24.5 inches (39th percentile)

head: 42 cm (64th percentile)

Pretty average sized! She's growing at a steady rate, and looks nice and healthy.

We love our Sarah!

Fun with the Bathroom Mirror

2010-09-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

When it's just me at home with the kids during the day, I have to get creative to get cute pictures of Sarah. She'll be all smiles until the camera comes out, and then she just stares blankly.

I tried a new tactic today. It wasn't all that successful, but it was lots of fun (especially for James)!

As soon as James heard me in the bathroom trying to get Sarah to smile, he came running and squealing, LOUDLY. He does this quite often, and it always scares Sarah, and she makes this face:

Then, James starting yelling, "Look! It's me! Look, mommy, it's me!" So, I had to take a picture of him, too:

Sarah is so beautiful.

And I love that smile!

Baby Beluga in the Deep Blue Sea

2010-09-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I shared one of James' songs with you all. This is one of my favorite new ones he has learned recently. I wish he would sit still better! This was the best I could get on video.

Taking a page out of James' book

2010-09-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here's James at about the same age as Sarah now (just a few weeks older):

And here's Sarah:

Only difference is that James always thought it was hilarious when he did things like this, and Sarah was quite upset at the predicament she had gotten herself into.

Sarah reached a milestone this weekend. She rolled over for the first time! Paul missed the first time on Friday, but then he got to see her do it again on Saturday. And now, when I put her on her tummy she rolls over almost immediately. :) I was worried she wasn't going to roll over for a long time because we aren't too good about giving her tummy time, but apparently she hates it enough that she had the motivation to figure it out. Here's a little video of it.

September is just flying by. I can't believe how fast time is passing these days. At the end of this month Sarah will be 4 months old! It's insane.

She's sure cute, though!

Gotta love it!

2010-09-09T13:46:00.001-07:00

This kid gets the best bed hair. Seriously. :)

I sure love my boy!

Our little cutie!

2010-08-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

Time is flying! I can't believe that Sarah is more than two and a half months old already!

We sure love our cute girl! (I just had to share this picture. I don't have time to write a whole post right now, but it's just too cute to wait. :) )

Funny Photo Friday?

2010-08-13T11:26:00.001-07:00

I don't know if it's just me, but Sarah's expression in this picture just cracked me up. Two and a half months old, and she's already tired of the camera!

Two Months Old!

2010-07-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

Today Sarah is two months old! I can't believe how fast time is flying. It seems like just yesterday she was our tiny little 7 pound baby. We'll find out tomorrow at her doctor's appointment how much she weighs now, but she has definitely grown.

Here are some pictures I took just today (we had a little Two Month Photo Shoot):

James wanted to get in on the action too (this one is definitely my favorite :) ).

And here's a video of Sarah in action. I managed to catch a couple little smiles. That noise in the background? Yeah, that's James. Silly, silly, James.

C is for Cookie

2010-07-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

What a slacker I've been! I can't believe it's been a month since I posted anything on the blog! We've been having fun as usual. We went to California a couple weeks ago and had an awesome trip including Sarah's blessing, the beach, Disneyland, the Home Run Derby, and the All-Star Game! I'll try and post some pictures and stories in the upcoming days. :)

Until then, here's a song that James picked up when we were in California. His Uncle Jeff would sit at the computer with him and his other nephew Michael and watch YouTube videos with them over and over. James thought it was the best thing ever!

Yeah, how do you like that two-year-old tantrum there at the end? Unfortunately, those have become common in our household these days. We're working on it. ;)

First Smiles!

2010-06-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

Sarah saves her best smiles for her Daddy, and tonight we managed to catch a few on camera! Isn't she beautiful?

Little Sarah Megumi

2010-06-24T15:47:00.001-07:00

I haven't had the chance to type up any more long posts yet, but I thought I'd post a few more pictures of our Sarah. I know newborns change very fast, so I figured at least family members would be excited for some new pictures. :)

We love our little girl!

James and Sarah

2010-06-21T11:43:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures of James holding Sarah for the first time the day after we got home from the hospital.

James loves Sarah so much! He may be a bit jealous of the attention we give her, but he always has a hug and a kiss for his little sister. When someone asks him if he loves his little sister, he says, "Yep! I love little sister Sarah!" :)

Baseball Song!

2010-06-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

James seems to be doing his best to get our attention back from Sarah. :) Normally it's pretty hard to get good videos and pictures of him these days. Lately, though, he's been anxious to perform for us all the time. I promise I'll post more pictures of Sarah soon! This is just another thing I can't wait to post!

This is James' latest favorite song to sing. He usually calls it the Baseball Song.

At first, I taught him to say, "Root, root, root for the home team" in an effort to keep him unbiased, but Paul would have none of that. ;) It's Angels all the way!

"Rocks, Mommy! Rocks!"

2010-06-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

My little boy is starting to draw things!

I know I am supposed to be catching up with all that's been going on, but I couldn't help but share these pictures. I was sitting at the computer this morning, and James came up behind me and said, "Rocks, Mommy! Rocks! Look!" And he showed me this:

He was so proud of his drawing. :)

Then, later he drew some more "rocks" and said, "Take a picture, Mommy?" I just had to oblige.

He cracks me up!

Sarah Megumi

2010-06-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

Sarah Megumi Peterson joined our family on May 29, at 7:48pm. She was 7 lbs. 6 oz., 20 inches long, and absolutely beautiful. :)

The last few weeks have been really wonderful. My mom came and stayed with us for two weeks. My whole family visited for the first weekend in June, and then Paul was able to take a week and a half off for paternity leave. I loved every minute of it! This is my first week on my own with two kids, and I'm starting to fall into some sort of a routine. Each day is a bit better than the last. Sarah is so beautiful, and it is amazing having her in our family. We're a family of four now!

I have a lot to blog about and many pictures to share, but I figured I should start with the story of Sarah's birth. It's been almost three weeks now, so I really need to get it recorded before the details get too fuzzy! Be ye forewarned: It's long. And also full of information some would consider TMI (though I won't make it too graphic).

On the weekend of my due date (which was May 24th), my mom flew out from Colorado to visit and help us get ready for the baby. We had a great week even though each day we hoped the baby would make her appearance. We went on walks every day, and my mom spoiled James with attention. He sure loves his Grandma!

Then, on Saturday (the day before I was scheduled to be induced), I started having regular contractions for the first time ever. It was strange. I was in complete denial all afternoon that I was in labor. We walked to Quizno's for lunch, stopped by Target for a couple last minute things, and walked home. All the while I was having contractions. By the time we left Target they were 10 minutes apart.

My mom wanted us to go to the hospital, but I was still convinced it wasn't actually labor. Instead, Paul and I put James down for a nap, sat down to watch a movie (turned out to be the most depressing Japanese movie EVER!), and sent my mom on a run. By the end of the movie, I told Paul we could pack a hospital bag. I still wasn't sold on going to the hospital just yet.

As soon as we started packing the bag, my contractions were five minutes apart and starting to get worse. I finally (still begrudgingly, if you can believe it) agreed to go to the hospital. For some reason the idea of getting sent home because it wasn't actually labor was just about the worst thing I could think of. Now, looking back, that doesn't make much sense, but what can I say? I was in labor and not thinking clearly!

I stalled as much as I could ("Paul, shouldn't we make the bed?" "I need to give James another hug." "Are we sure we have everything?"), until we finally made it out the door just after 6:00pm.

Paul took this picture when we were in triage right around 6:30pm. I had no idea that I was not only in active labor, but just minutes away from transition (the worst stage of labor, right at the end), and that I would be holding my baby girl in just over an hour.

It was crazy! The nurse checked me and I was already 6 cm dilated. They went through the check in process, briefly hooked me up to an IV bag of fluids to help me get a little more hydrated, and then I walked to my room. I considered walking a little more to help distract me and get things moving, but the one contraction I had on the way to the room stopped me in my tracks. Not such a good idea after all.

We settled into our room. I sat down on the bench by the window next to Paul because laying on the bed didn't sound good to me. I requested a birthing ball to see if it would help me through contractions, and the nurse brought it in. I sat on it for maybe a minute. Probably more like thirty seconds. And then everything went out of control.

I decided I wanted to be laying in bed, but it didn't help. There was definitely weeping and wailing. The nurse said, "You know, second babies can really come very fast, do you want me to check you again?" I said yes right away, even though so little time had passed since they first checked me. Sure enough, I was at nine centimeters; just about ready to give birth! They called for the on-call doctor (it was a Saturday, so my doctor wasn't able to be there), and there was more weeping and wailing. He came in almost instantly with a whole slew of nurses. When he first walked in he said, "Wow, you're holding on to that bed like you're preparing for an earthquake!" If I had been a little more in control of myself I probably would have said something like, "No, just preparing to have a baby, you silly doctor!" Instead, I just ignored it (too busy weeping and wailing, I suppose). He broke my water, decided it might be slightly green tinged (which would mean the baby had passed meconium inside the womb), and called the NICU people to come in just in case (standard procedure when meconium is present). I felt so out of control as all this was happening. It was like a whirlwind.

Suddenly, I was propped up in the stirrups and everyone was staring at me expectantly. I was in the worst pain I could imagine, and my mind was reeling with little bits of information I had picked up as I had prepared for childbirth and what I remembered from last time. It was like, "Wait, shouldn't they be coaching me about how and when to push? Aren't I supposed to feel an uncontrollable urge to push? Is that what I'm feeling right now? They say pushing can be a relief from the pain. Should I give it a try? Why are they all just staring at me like that?" Somewhere during this time I said something like, "I changed my mind! I would like an epidural after all." Of course I knew that was out of the question. What I really wanted was to turn the clock back and start over...go to the hospital sooner, get the epidural, and STOP. THE. PAIN! Simple, right? ;)

I think the nurse next to me could tell I was starting to lose it, because she said, "All you need is one really big push and your daughter will be here." Psh! My immediate response was, "I don't believe you!" (Paul had to hide his face so I couldn't see him chuckle at that. :) ) She assured me that she was telling the truth, but I still didn't believe her. I didn't really have any other choice than to try it, though. So I did. And her head was out. And I did it again. And she was here! Insane, I tell you.

They placed her on my belly, and I was so shocked that all I could say was, "Baby! It's a baby!" over and over. She cried and cried. It was incredible. The doctor sent the NICU people away. She was perfect and healthy.

Before I knew it, I had been stitched up (I tore pretty bad because she tried to come out with her arm up by her head.) and everyone was gone except one nurse, Paul, and our beautiful daughter.

It's only been a few weeks, and I can't picture what it would be like for Sarah not to be here in our family.

Here's a link to some more pictures from the first couple days: Sarah Megumi Peterson. I'll post more soon!

James Loves His Daddy!

2010-05-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

My timing is off with this video (what with Mother's Day coming this Sunday and Father's Day more than a month away), but I can't wait to share it. Plus, I'll be pretty busy with a new baby when Father's Day rolls around, so who knows if I would have been able to capture a video like this then. :)

For those of you that are unfamiliar with this song, here are the words (James can be hard to understand sometimes):

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home,

Glad as I can be!

Clap my hands, and shout for joy,

Then climb upon his knee,

Put my arms around his neck,

Hug him tight, like this,

Pat his cheeks, and give him, what?

A great, big kiss!

I love that instead of "a great big kiss" James says "a big wet kiss". :) So funny.

"I reading Book of Mormon!"

2010-04-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

On a good day, when James wakes up in the morning or from his nap, he sings or talks to himself contentedly until I go get him. Today was a good day. :) He was talking to himself happily when I opened the door to his room after his nap.

When I walked in, he looked up and said, "Mommy! I reading Book of Mormon! I reading Book of Mormon!" He was so proud of himself. He has a board book full of Book of Mormon stories, and Paul must have read from it to him last night before bed, because it had been sitting on James' bookcase, which he can reach from his crib.

He was flipping through the pages and "reading" the stories to himself. :)

I had no idea he knew the stories came from the Book of Mormon! It took me a second to realize what he was saying, and that it was (sort of) true! I ran for the camera to try and get him to say it for me. We had a nice little conversation:

I've said it many times before, but it's just amazing to me how much James learns and how quickly! I constantly need to remind myself not to underestimate what he understands. He's pretty incredible! :)

Sunday Best!

2010-04-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

Are you ready to see the cutest little boy to ever wear a pinstripe suit?

Oh yes, here he is! :)

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Hansen for the wonderful Easter present. James felt very cool wearing a tie for the first time. He had compliments from people in our ward all day today. Thank you so much! We love it!

A Typical Morning

2010-04-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

This morning, James ate his usual breakfast (some dry cereal while waiting for the oatmeal, a bowl of oatmeal, and a banana). I also had my usual (a bowl of cereal and a banana) and was catching up on emails and facebook when behind me I heard a beautiful sound. James was singing "I'm trying to be like Jesus" at the top of his lungs. :)

I just love how much he sings. He sings while playing, while trying to fall asleep at night, while eating...well, pretty much all the time! He sings bits and pieces of songs we have sung to him and that he has learned from nursery and Disney movies. I love to try and figure out what song he is singing. And I love how he turns to me and says, "You know that song? Sing it with me, Mommy! Come on!"

I decided to see if I could capture a bit of this morning's singing on camera for you all. Yes, he's covered in oatmeal. And yes, he's mutilating that banana pretty badly. Like I said, it's a typical morning! :)

As you can see, the video got cut off at the end. My 'change batteries' light was flashing the whole time he was singing. I was so scared it was going to cut out before he finished!

Friends

2010-04-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we went down to Oregon City with our good friends, the Belnaps. We had fun touring an old historic house, riding the last municipal elevator in North America (and the only vertical street: Elevator St.), checking out the waterfalls and the paper mills, and just hanging out.

We went to a little park to play in and eat some clementines. While the dads were playing catch, we moms took the opportunity to have a little photo shoot:

Aren't they CUTE?? James and Claire are good buddies. :)

Also, I have to share this photo I managed to capture of James earlier that day:

It's just so refreshing to get a picture of him with a real smile every now and then!

Thanks for a great Saturday, Belnaps! :) Next time, let's eat a little less food, ok?

Adventures in Photographing a Two Year Old

2010-04-09T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in honor of my newly emptied SD card on my camera, I decided to try and get a cute picture or two of James. I haven't been taking as many pictures of him lately, so I thought it was a good idea.

My first step in taking pictures of James is always to feel him out and see if he's in a cooperative mood. "Can I take some pictures of you, James?" I ask. If he protests, I wait for another time. Experience has taught me that if I persist when he has said no there will be nothing but pain and frustration involved. ;) If he says "OK!" (like he did last night), I know that he will at least stay in one spot while I point the camera at him. :)

Here's how last night unfolded:

Me: "OK, smile!!"

Me: "No no no, really smile! Say cheese!!"

Me: "Oh dear. That's not it. Give me a real smile! Be happy!"

Me: *sigh* "Alright, it's time to enlist Daddy's help."

Me: "That's closer! Ok, keep trying the tickle approach! Smile, James, smile!"

Me: "Oops, I can't get the timing right with the flash...keep trying!"

And that's as good as it's gonna get! :)

32 Weeks and Counting!

2010-04-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Here is me as of last night:

And it's only going to get bigger from here! Seven and a half more weeks! (Who me? Counting down? Never! ;) )

Two Year Olds don't need Fancy Toys

2010-03-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

Case in point:

James spends about as much time playing with his toys every day as he does playing with things that aren't even technically toys. Yesterday he ran around with a flashlight for a good hour and a half. :)

Incidentally, he buckled himself into his car seat like that on his own. And just after I took the video, he put the shoes on and brought his jacket to me and told me he was going on a trip. I told him to be safe. Ah, the life of a toddler!

A Bushel and a Peck

2010-03-22T12:42:00.001-07:00

We're alive!

James has another song to share with you all:

As you can tell, James is a bit wired in this video. He can't even stand still. This is my cue that it's nap time because he's so tired that he's afraid to stop moving. Ha ha.

We're doing well. James tries our patience sometimes as he discovers what it means to be a two year old. He still keeps us laughing, though, and constantly amazes us with how fast he learns things. My pregnancy is going smoothly. Nine weeks to go! I keep meaning to have Paul take a picture of me when I'm actually showered and dressed (a rare occurrence these days ;) ) to show how big I've gotten in the last 11 weeks since I posted a belly picture. Paul is enjoying his job, especially right now as he's running a fantasy baseball league with some of his coworkers. :)

I'll try not to let another month go by without posting more frequently!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T13:29:00.001-08:00

I've always loved Valentine's Day. I love flowers. I love chocolate. My favorite color is red. Oh, and I love any excuse to have a special night with my husband. :) It's my kind of holiday.

This year we had a low-key night in on Friday night (we had things going on both Saturday and Sunday nights). We put James to bed and had a quiet dinner for two.

This was my gift to Paul:

The menu included appetizers (stuffed mushrooms, hot artichoke dip, and fresh fruit and dip), pan-seared salmon, broccoli with roasted garlic and lemon, cheddar biscuits, rice pilaf, chocolate chip cookie dough truffles, and apple cider pudding cake a la mode. :) I went a little bit overboard.

This was Paul's gift to me:

I don't know if the picture adequately shows how large this bouquet is. When Paul walked in, I thought he was holding a rose bush! It's pretty safe to say that this is the biggest flower arrangement I have ever received. Thank you, Paul! :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Mini Makeover

2010-02-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

Paul went out of town a couple weeks ago. I tend to do crazy things when he goes out of town. This time, I decided to chop off my hair!

This is probably the shortest I've had my hair since I was a toddler!

Look Who's Two!

2010-02-02T12:19:00.000-08:00

Yep! We officially have a two year old in the house!

James' birthday was tons of fun. :) He could tell it was a special day because people kept calling him throughout the day and singing to him. His face would just light up every time! Thanks to everyone that called to say Happy Birthday!

So, here's how it all went down...

As the preparations for his little party (just us and a couple friends) got underway, James showed us that maybe we didn't need to get him so many presents after all. The box they came in was plenty of fun!

When we brought the stack of presents out, though, James quickly left the box behind. He was SO excited to open them! Opening presents is one of James' favorite things to do.

We made him wait until after cake and ice cream. We're so mean. ;)

This year, we decided to do cupcakes! Baseball cupcakes, to be exact. :) I should have been a little more patient with the red frosting, because they turned out a little wonky, but hey, he's only two right? He thought they were awesome.

We sang to him, he blew out his candle (all by himself!), and before we could even get a bib on him, James was chowing down on his cupcake.

And Paul thought he wouldn't make a big mess...ha ha.

After the cake and ice cream, we finally let James attack his stack of presents. Boy, did he have a blast!

*Disclaimer: I'm sorry the videos are so dark! Apparently we need more light in our living room!

After each present he wanted to stop and play with it, so we had to keep coaxing him to pick another one.

He got the hang of it after a while...

We did let him get in a few swings on his new tee in the middle of the festivities, though:

Overall, he loved pretty much every single thing he got...right down to the potty seat and Lightning McQueen bathroom stool. Thank you so much for all the gifts Grandma and Grandpa Peterson and Grandma and Grandpa Hansen! :) And thank you Diana and Jeff and Adam and Claudia! We feel very spoiled and loved.

The very last thing James opened was a birthday card from his Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Larson. And as all of us grandkids know, these cards usually come with a special treat...five dollars! We laid them out for James to count. He made a good effort (at least he's not skipping six anymore). ;) Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Larson!

Here's James with his giant haul of presents. He was so distracted by them that we couldn't even get a good smile.

We did convince him to tell/show us how old he is, though:

Happy birthday to our little James! I can't believe you are already two!

There are more fun pictures and videos in our photo album! Here's a link to the album: James' 2nd Birthday.

Another song??

2010-01-29T11:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's another song! This one is special, though, because it's the first time James sang through a whole song on video without having me prompt him at all! Granted, it's a short and repetitive song, but still. I was pretty proud of him. :)

For a second I thought he was going to get caught in a loop, but he eventually got unstuck and finished the song.

I'm pretty sure they sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in nursery because James has been singing it for a while now, but he got much more enthusiastic about it (and the hand motions) after he started nursery.

He sure loves nursery!

Further proof...

2010-01-28T12:23:00.001-08:00

...that James is his mother's son.

This morning for breakfast, James had a whole bowl of oatmeal and a whole piece of toast, but he was still asking for more to eat. I knew there was no way he'd really eat much more, so I cut up two strawberries for him.

Sure enough, I looked over at him in his high chair a few minutes later, and he was not eating his strawberries. Instead, this is what he had done:

He was pretty proud of himself, too. :)

Ha ha...what a cheesy grin!

Some Good Progress

2010-01-26T14:50:00.000-08:00

Like I mentioned in my last post, James has finally been figuring out his colors! He has been working on this for the last six months or so. Since he seems to pick up other concepts so quickly, we were actually beginning to wonder if he could be color blind!

Turns out it's just a hard thing to figure out. :)

Here's a pretty typical video of James and I talking about colors. He gets most of them right, but then, out of the blue (heh heh, blue...get it? colors? oh dear), he'll get one absolutely wrong. And it's not always the same color that he messes up on. One day it'll be yellow (like it was in this video), and other days it will be green or red or blue or whatever. Anyway, I think it's cute that he's figuring it out. Take a look:

Almost Two!

2010-01-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my little James will be two years old in less than two weeks! I've been making a sincere effort to stop calling him baby lately (in an attempt to help him be more prepared when the new baby comes), and it's so hard! He's my baby!

Whether I like it or not, though, my baby is starting to grow up already! He amazes me every day with the things he understands and the things he is capable of. For example, today he took a bag of cheerios from the diaper bag and deliberately dumped them out on the kitchen floor. This, of course, earned him a time out. The problem is he has recently figured out that the way to end a time out is to apologize. So today he almost immediately started saying "I'm sorry, Mommy!" once the time out started. I wasn't convinced he understood why he was being punished, so I said, "Why are you sorry, James?" He thought about it for a little bit and eventually said, "I dumped it out." I was so impressed!

These days he is speaking in sentences more and more and stringing together related ideas. He's finally starting to figure out his colors. He recognizes his friends at church and calls them by name. He loves going outside, playing with cars, blocks, and balls, and he's pretty darn good at wooden puzzles. He loves movies, except for the "scary" parts. Like I've mentioned before, he loves singing songs, and picks up new ones at nursery all the time. It's just incredible to watch him learn and grow!

Here's a video of James today attempting to count. He has counted from 1 to 10 for a long time now (always skipping six, for whatever reason), but I can never get a good video of it. This one is no exception. The camera just distracts him very easily. You can get the idea, though. He sure makes me smile!

Popcorn! Popcorn!

2010-01-07T13:19:00.000-08:00

James loves to sing. When he's playing by himself he's always keeping up an ongoing conversation, and more often than not he sings to himself. ABC's, Jingle Bells, I Love You a Bushel and a Peck, and sometimes even songs that I have yet to identify which I'm sure he's learned from nursery.

He also picks up songs very quickly these days! I taught this one to him in one sitting a week ago. He especially loves the hand signs that go with it. His only problem is that if I don't help him along with the song he gets stuck in a perpetual loop that sounds something like this: "I looked out the window and what did I see? POPCORN! POPCORN! I looked out the window and what did I see? POPCORN! POPCORN!" And on and on like that. ;)

I helped him along for this video, so he didn't do as much singing as he usually does. Also, toward the end of the song he decided he was done and put up a little fight. I decided to post it anyway because it shows his personality a little bit, and his little disgruntled face is so cute!

Drumroll, please...

2010-01-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

Yep! It's a GIRL! :) We are very excited, and I can't wait to start buying little girl clothes.

Here's a picture of me at 20 weeks:

And here are some adorable (well, they are if you ask me anyway ;) ) ultrasound pictures:

First, we have a classic profile shot:

Then, she tried to suck her thumb:

Here's her closeup:

Here's her cute little leg and foot:

And her nice long fingers (they must take after Paul's):

Everything is looking good and healthy! She's measuring right on schedule, and her little heart is beating away! She's an active little one...we got to see her moving all around on the screen. :)

A Candid Shot

2009-12-17T22:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the poor quality of this picture (all I had on me was my phone), but it is too cute not to share. James held Claire's hand in the car the whole ride to our visiting teaching appointment today. :) He's a smooth operator!

I love the looks on their faces. Claudia was right when she said it looks like they're thinking, "Oh no! They can see us!"

So, so cute! :)

Gotta Love that Laugh!

2009-12-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

Like most families, we have a bedtime routine with James each night. Paul takes him to his room to change his diaper and get his pajamas on. I fill his sippy cup and bring it in to him. We have family prayer. One of us reads a bedtime story, and one or both of us sing a song while James lays down. When we finish the song, James gives us his sippy cup and we say our "goodnights".

That's the ideal anyway.

Some nights we get a little bit distracted, and something like this happens:

Silly parents, getting him all riled up right before bed! :) I just love those laughs, though. I have no idea how Paul kept himself from laughing while he was filming!

It's starting...

2009-11-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

Just 14 1/2 weeks, and I'm already showing!

What's up with that? ;)

The Tale of Paul's Facial Hair

2009-11-11T14:02:00.000-08:00

So...

Many of you have noticed something a little peculiar about pictures of Paul lately. ;)

For the first time in his adult life, Paul made an attempt to grow some facial hair. I didn't think it was possible, but it turns out it is. Why did he decide to give it a try? Well, Paul's a good sport, right? He's pretty much always up for fun and/or silly endeavors. It's part of why I love him so much. (Aww!) So, of course, when Paul heard that his department at work likes to have a little facial hair growing party during the month of October every other year, he was totally game--a little unsure, but game.

It all started out a little dicey. Those of you that know Paul are aware that he is a little lacking in the facial hair department. It's the Asian in him. ;) It started to grow, but it was definitely sparse. A few weeks in, though, it started to fill in ever so slightly. Suddenly, Paul had an honest to goodness goatee! And yes, he was proud of his little goatee. :)

Here's the team on the last day of the challenge:

And here are some closeups:

Before the shaving begins, Paul is confident that he is hot stuff.

Shaving has commenced. No more 'stache!

Yes, you have a cute smile, Paul. But now it's time for the rest to go!

Paul mourns the loss of his beloved goatee.

All is well, though! He may have lost a goatee, but he has gained a happy wife! I'm so glad I have my husband's face back!

Halloween!

2009-11-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

Check out our little baseball player!

Thanks for the wonderful costume, Grandma Hansen! :)

James loved Halloween. He loved showing off his costume at Paul's work and around the neighborhood. He loved knocking on doors and having people give him candy. And he loved being the center of attention. :)

He did not love the skeletons hanging on people's doors. ;) If a house had a skeleton on the door, James refused to knock on it. He'd turn to us and say, "Did it scare you?" with a worried expression on his face.

So, I got my H1N1 shot...

2009-10-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

Normally, I'm not one to rush out and get flu shots. In fact, I've never gotten one before today. Why did I go for this one, you ask? Well, I happen to be in a "high risk" group these days. You know, the first category the CDC lists when they talk about who should get the vaccine.

Yep! I'm PREGNANT! :)

I'm almost 11 weeks along, and due on May 24, 2010. We're very excited to be adding to our family!

Pumpkin Patch!

2009-10-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today a couple friends braved the cold with me and James and went to the pumpkin patch! I was kind of excited to see how James would like it, since he liked it so much when we went a year ago. Well, he LOVED it. He loved it so much that I couldn't get him to stop running around for more than a minute at a time. (Note to self: James is NOT ready for outings without strollers.)

Here's James with his friends Julia and Claire. We never did get a picture of all three kids together. I blame James for wandering off whenever we tried.

James was fascinated by the animals. They had some pigs, a bunny, and some goats, but his favorite was the pony. :) He kept pointing at it saying "horse! horse!"

He also loved the water. They had a little pond with a boat that took us from the main area of the farm out to the pumpkin patch. James had a very hard time waiting for the boat to come back and pick us up. A couple of times I'm pretty sure he would have just run right into the water if I hadn't stopped him! Once we got on the boat, though, he was so thrilled that he sat on my lap staring around us for the whole ride over to the pumpkins. :)

So, our next task was to pick out a pumpkin...

The task proved too hard for us as James was more interested in the train tracks, empty wheelbarrows, and mud to give the pumpkins a second look. As for me, I was too busy chasing after James!

Lucky for us, Abby was very kind and sought out the perfect pumpkin for us. We really wouldn't have been able to get one if she hadn't looked for us. Thanks, Abby!

Here's James, reluctantly posing with our pumpkin:

Somehow I had to get James and the pumpkin to the little train station for our ride back to the cars. Since trying to herd James is like trying to herd a group of scared ducks, this was no easy task. This was our solution:

Overall, it was a successful trip to the pumpkin patch! We only had one minor accident. James tripped while he was trying to step over the train tracks and got dirt all over his face and a couple of red welts that have all but faded now. You can see his battle wound in this last picture:

Fun times! Next time I won't forget to bring the stroller... ;)

Finally!

2009-10-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

James has been singing this song for almost two months now, but I have not been able to get him to sing it for the camera. Finally, today, he kept singing it over and over, so I asked if he could sing it for the camera. And he did!

So, now that I've told many of you about this for weeks and weeks, here it is! James sings "Kami no ko desu" (or, "I am a Child of God" in Japanese):

Clothes are No Fun, Mom!

2009-10-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

It all started yesterday morning when I went to get James from his crib. I opened the door, and he had completely taken off his shirt! I laughed and put it back on.

Then, later that afternoon, James was happily watching Aladdin in the living room. I turned to check on him, and he had stripped down to his diaper! No more shirt OR pants for him! Once again, I laughed and said, "James, where are your clothes?" He thought it was the funniest thing, but he brought me his clothes and let me put them back on. A few minutes later I glanced over at him, and once again, he was running around in just a diaper (thank goodness he left the diaper on!). I let him run around like that for a little while, but then got him dressed to run some errands. Luckily, that was the end of our clothing dramas for the day.

Then, last night we put James in a footed sleeper. Since there weren't two separate pieces, I hoped this would mean he would keep it on. Well...this is what greeted me when I went to get him this morning:

He managed to unzip his sleeper (but leave the snap at the top fastened) and get one leg out.

Yeah...who knows what's in store for us and our little nudist child. :)

Oh, and by the way, we've entered a new phase in picture taking with James. I say, "Smile!" and he says, "Cheeeeese!" with this fake smile plastered on his face. Yep. The Fake Smile phase. I was hoping he would be at least 3 years old before he started doing the Fake Smile. Oh well, maybe this way we'll be able to break the habit before he starts school and gets stuck with some embarrassing school portraits! ;)

Baseball Player in Training

2009-10-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

Almost every day, when Paul gets home from work, James runs to the door and says, "Hi Daddy! Baseball game?" It's pretty cute, and Paul just loves it.

Paul enjoys training his little future baseball player every night in the basics.

First, we have hitting:

And of course you have to play catch:

He's got a short attention span (what 20 month old boy doesn't?), but he really does love to play baseball with his daddy. :)

Funny Story

2009-09-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a funny James story for you. :)

So, James has really gotten into coloring lately. Just now, he found a little pink paper heart in the crayon box that has been there since Valentine's Day. He took it out and held it on his forehead and proclaimed, "Sticker! Sticker!" I said, "Nope, that's not a sticker." And James--not to be deterred--moved the heart up onto his head and said, "Hat! Hat!" :)

This little dude cracks me up.

ABC Redux

2009-09-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

So, I tried to get James to sing "I am a Child of God" in Japanese for the camera, but he just won't! For some reason, he just doesn't want to sing it for the camera. He just whines and squirms and runs away from me. On the other hand, he'll sing the ABC's anytime these days. He's gotten a lot better at it since the last time I posted an ABC's video. Check it out:

(OK, OK, I know I need to get my act together and start writing some big posts about our summer adventures. I have no excuse. I just need to sit down and do it!)

James Gets his Groove on

2009-09-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

I finally caught a bit of James dancing on video! He's been dancing for a long time now, but he likes to stop as soon as I bring out the camera.

Dancing in your PJs...it doesn't get much better than that! :)

He actually has quite the groove sometimes. It's hilarious.

I'm in the process of collecting pictures from the Peterson Family Oregon Reunion. We had such a fun time, and I'm excited to post pictures of our adventures. Stay tuned!

You are my Sunshine!

2009-08-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

James has been surprising us daily with the words and phrases that he knows. Just yesterday, I took a piece of string away from him, and he held his hand out to me and said, clear as day, "Have it, please?" It was so cute! I hope he understood that even though he said please, I couldn't let him play with the string. Instead, I wadded it up into a ball, asked him if he could throw it away in the trash can, and gave it back to him. He walked straight over to the trash can and threw it away! He's getting to be such a big boy.

Today, as I was about to put James down for his nap, I decided to test him and see if he knows the words to the songs that we sing to him regularly. And he does! He started singing along with me right away. :)

After he woke up, I tried to catch it on video. He didn't do quite as well, but he still filled in some blanks.

He chose to put on that baseball hat himself. Funny boy! As you can tell from the video, he's really into stories right now. He asks for stories multiple times during the day, but mostly just after his nap and just before bed.

This is such a fun age!

Oh, and incidentally, I decided that I would also put together a post on last weekend's trip to Utah...and then I discovered that I took a grand total of two (very random) pictures the whole weekend. Oops! I'm just going to have to get some pictures from Paul's family. (Grace and Kristina, could you email me some pictures? :) )

Chatting with James

2009-08-12T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of a typical lunch time for James. He's definitely improving with the spoon, though!

The video is on the long side, but at the end he actually said "I love you" (minus the consonants ;) ) instead of his usual monster growling "buh bye". How could I not share it? :)

ABCD...

2009-08-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

Here is James as he tries to sing the ABCs. It is a valiant effort for an 18 month old! ;)

My favorite part is when he goes "dubadubaduba" instead of "LMNO". Such a funny boy! :)

Thank you, craigslist!

2009-08-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

Last week, we were able to say goodbye to our teeny tiny little round dining table thanks to some wonderful finds on craigslist!

Here is our new table and chairs:

It's nice and big, and it even has a built-in leaf so that it can expand out to a square and seat eight people! It makes us feel all grown up. :)

Then, we also bought these stools for our little bar:

Now, we're all ready to host Paul's family at the end of the month! I wasn't looking forward to having to do every meal buffet-style when they are here. Now, everyone will have a seat! :)

What should we have for dinner, James?

2009-08-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I didn't have a dinner planned, and I really didn't have the ingredients to throw something together. I asked James what we should have, and he sure told me! He also showed me how to bless the food. :)

Anyway, I thought his idea was perfect! So we ordered some right away. :)

Eighteen Wonderful Months

2009-08-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

James has reached a milestone. He is 18 months old. As members of the LDS church, this means one especially important thing: he's old enough for nursery. Woo hoo! In the last few months, the three hours of church was getting rather difficult for James. He wanted to play! Now, we just have to keep him subdued for the first hour of church. Then, we drop him off at nursery for two gloriously free hours where he plays happily with the other children (and has a snack, singing time, and lesson time!), and Paul and I can BOTH listen to Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society! Yep, it is a truly glorious thing. (It was especially glorious yesterday, since both Paul and I were teaching lessons during the third hour.)

Yesterday, when it came time for us to drop him off for the first time, Paul and I (in true first-time-parent form) both took him to the nursery. We tried to make a big deal out of it (say good-bye, give him hugs, show him around), but he would have none of it! As soon as we set him down he was off, without so much as a glance back at us. He had a wonderful time! James was made to be in nursery, and nursery was made for James.

We had his 18 month check up this morning, and the doctor (who just loves James :) ) was pleased with his development.

Here are his latest measurements:

Height: 31 3/4 inches (33rd percentile)
Weight: 23 pounds (13th percentile)
Head size: 48 1/3 centimeters (70th percentile)

Still short and small with a big head, but I think maybe the numbers are starting to even out. His height and weight percentiles are higher this time, and his head size percentile is lower.

At this appointment, I had to fill out a developmental worksheet for James so they can track his progress and make sure nothing stands out as problematic. I had to laugh to myself when I got to the language section of the worksheet and it said, "Child knows 8 or more words and uses them in context regularly." (The possible responses were yes, sometimes, and not yet.) I've certainly got a talker on my hands!

As promised, I've made a list for this post of all the words James knows so far. I limited the list to words that he consistently uses in the correct context without prompting from me or Paul. It's a good thing I did this now, because I think he is very close to having an explosion in word development and soon we will not be able to keep track of all the words he knows. As it is, I have probably accidentally left a few out of this list.

THE LIST:

Foods: milk, juice, water, cracker, cookie, apple, applesauce, yogurt, peas, raisins, Kix, banana ("nana"), strawberry (comes out more like "bah-bey"), french fries ("feh fie"), pizza, spoon ("poon")

Toys: toys, ball, baseball, bat, hat, car, truck, Elmo

Miscellaneous nouns: door, button, prayer, book, fan, tree, sun

People: Mommy, Daddy, baby, Becca, Michael, Jesus

Animals: cat, doggie ("goggie"), horse, pig

Body: head, eyes, ears, nose, toes, belly button (sounds like "bey bun"), shoes, socks, shirt, pants, diaper ("bopper")

Action words/Phrases/Other: hi, hello ("heh-oh!"), bye bye, night night, yes, yeah, no, nope, uh oh, eww, oww, yucky, up, down, open, closed, walk, all done, all gone, what's that, alright!, more, go, mine, please, thank you ("dit-doo"), you're welcome ("mah melcome!"), Amen, nice nice, yabadabadoo! (a la Fred Flinstone...comes out "dub dub dooowwwww!"), where go? (while hiding his face...translation: Where did I go?), there is! (translation: There he is!), two, three ("tree"), four, five (he still doesn't say one, though :) )*

*Clarification on the numbers: James doesn't yet actually understand how to count things, but he pretends to count things. I say "one" and he touches things (toys, blocks, pictures in a book, etc) and says "two, three, four, five!" as he points to them.

Yep, I'd say he knows "8 or more" words!

In the last few weeks James has started putting together two word phrases from time to time (such as "more raisins", "daddy home?", and "go bye bye!"). It's truly incredible to watch James as he learns. I feel so blessed to have him in my life. He brings me and Paul so much joy! Sure, he also seems to be mastering The Tantrum lately as well, but the good and fun things far outweigh the bad.

We love you, James!

The end! Get it? Ha ha ha ha...ha ha...ha....I crack myself up. Oh dear.

Up and Down!

2009-07-31T14:45:00.000-07:00

Are you all tired of seeing video clips of James, yet? Wait...don't answer that. ;) Here's yet another funny one from this morning. James seems to have figured out the concept of 'up' and 'down'. He did this on his own the first time, with no encouragement from me.

Also, he has finally started saying "I love you" from time to time, but as you can see from this video, he definitely wouldn't say it today! He had only one response for me...and it sure is a favorite for him. *sigh*

Katie's Blessing

2009-07-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

When we were in Utah at the beginning of June to see little Michael, we were also able to spend some time with my family and go to Katie's blessing. It was so fun that the two events coincided! Katie has grown so much! And of course these pictures are already outdated. These days, she's laughing and rolling over and pretending to be a big girl!

Here are a few pictures from the blessing and time with my family:

James and Becca love their aunt Jamie!

She's lots of fun to play with. :)

In the midst of the fun, James and I found time to catch up on our correspondence. ;)

Ha ha, just kidding. I really couldn't pass up posting that picture.

And here's the star of the show and her beautiful family!

Oh, and James looked pretty snazzy in his Sunday clothes, too (even though Daddy let him get watermelon juice all over them ;) ).

Thanks for letting us stay with you guys, Paula and Brian! I'm sorry James ended up sharing that cold with Becca. :( We love to come visit you!

It's so hard to be far away from family sometimes. I don't like to think about all I'm missing of the beginning of little Katie and little Michael's lives! I wish I could just pop in and visit all the time. Thank goodness for technology that helps us feel connected.

Never too early to start!

2009-07-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling those of you who know me well will get a kick out of this video. :)

(I apologize for the noise of the air conditioner in the background...that was a silly place to take a video. Sometimes I just have to get out the camera and film wherever James happens to be at the time.)

He's a boy after my own heart! He seems to especially like the leading tone. What a hoot!

Raisins!

2009-07-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

I am working on a list of words that James knows in honor of him being 18 months old this Saturday. It is proving to be a difficult task! He learns new words practically every day, and sometimes he says them out of the blue with no prompting from me or Paul. I'll post the list along with the stats from his 18-month check up next week.

Here's a little video I just took while James was eating lunch. "Raisins" is one of my favorite words to hear him say. It's just so cute. :)

He babbles all the time now, even more than before. He's always singing and chatting away! And he answers questions, too! It's so fun. Most of the time his answers are unintelligible, but when I ask him simple questions (like "Do you want more milk?" or "What do you want to eat for lunch?") he answers me. It's very exciting.

Speaking of asking him what he wants to eat for lunch, his most common answer to that question is, "Raisins!" :)

Michael Sekijiro

2009-07-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite trips of this summer so far has been our last minute surprise trip to Utah to see Kristina and Jonathan and their new baby, Michael. We weren't originally planning on going there when the baby was born. In an attempt to save some money, we were planning on visiting only for the baby blessing later on in the summer. It was a good and sensible plan...

But then, June 1 came along, and we got the much anticipated phone call that the baby was on it's way. All our finely laid out plans were tossed out the window. Paul and I were dying to jump on a plane that very minute. Paul felt very strongly that he wanted to be there for his sister. So our plans changed! :) We bought plane tickets for early (EARLY) Saturday morning. And the best part was, the only person in Paul's family that knew we were coming was Jonathan. It was awesome.

It was so much fun to surprise Paul's family. And the last minute trip was well worth it! See for yourself:

Awww! Isn't he adorable?!

Here we are meeting our new nephew (can you tell from Paul's face that we woke up at 3:30am that morning? ;) ) :

Grandma Grace and Grandpa John couldn't be more excited to have a new grandson. :)

And they were also thrilled to have some unexpected time with their first grandson, too!

James thought his new cousin was pretty dang cool. He even learned how to say his name already! Here are the two handsome boys (little Michael makes James look like a giant!):

And here's the whole family! :) Can you believe how tall Steven has gotten?

Even though we just got home from Utah again on Sunday, we sure miss you all. Most especially, we miss this little guy:

Can't wait to see you again in a few weeks!

WW - The Many Faces of James

2009-07-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

James "Reads"

2009-07-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

James just woke up from his nap. I went in to get him and he kept pointing at his bookshelf saying, "Book! Book!" I sat him down with one of his favorites (a baseball book), and he was so happy! :) My other posts are going to have to wait until tomorrow. This video was too fun to pass up.

I'm baaaaaaack!

2009-07-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

So...my computer is still dead. We are still saving up for a new one. And I am still using Paul's sloooooooow laptop. But hey, a slow laptop is better than no computer at all, right? Anyway, I finally gave in and searched our frightening closet (you know...the place where everything gets dumped when we need to straighten up in a hurry?) for my long lost camera cord. And guess what? I found it! Wahoo! I can return to the world of blogging once more.

I tell you what, I am swamped with pictures and stories and vacations to post about! We've been having quite the fun summer!

Most recently, we spent the weekend in Utah with Paul's family for his cousin Joseph's wedding. It was wonderful to see everyone and to spend time together as a family (as short as it was).

Here's a sampling of the pictures from the wedding:

James loved the beautiful flowers on the temple grounds.

Our family with the happy couple. Congratulations, Joseph and Sotheavy!

The whole Peterson clan!

Wonderful, wonderful weekend! :)

Now, I am going to attempt to get back on top of things over the next few days, so stay tuned! If I can manage it, I will post multiple times a day in order to catch up.

Here's a list of what's in store (not comprehensive):

Welcome Michael Sekijiro Ridge to the world!
Katie's Blessing
Trips to Washingtion (wedding, farewell, and graduation, oh my!)
Fourth of July and trips to the ballgame
Picking blueberries
James counts!
Weekend in Colorado...a pseudo high school reunion

I'm sure I'm leaving some things out. Crazy crazy! Wish me luck!

Kicked the Bucket

2009-06-18T12:30:00.001-07:00

My poor laptop seems to have perished. I was innocently perusing my twitter page last Sunday, and, poof! A Blue Screen of Death appeared, followed immediately by a short but violent death scene consisting of the computer shutting itself off and then attempting (unsuccessfully) to reboot itself over and over until I put it out of it's misery by shutting it off completely. It was a sad, sad day. We haven't had a chance to figure out whether I'll be able to save my files (including 10 months of pictures!!), but I'm crossing my fingers (and toes, and eyes, and anything else that can be crossed) that this story will have a happy ending.

Until then, I'm becoming acquainted with Paul's laptop. I'm going to have to work out a new system for transferring my pictures, but it may take a little time.

To keep you going until my triumphant (hopefully) return to blogging, my sister recently posted a whole bunch of pictures on her photo album, including a couple of cute videos of James from while we were there. Take a look: Whitmer Family Photo Album (Katie's Blessing).

Then and Now

2009-06-11T17:12:00.001-07:00

Oh, how time flies!

This is then:

And this is now:

James had a good time reacquainting himself with this bouncer that he spent so much of his first few months in while we were in Utah. Whenever Katie wasn’t using it, James would climb right in and make himself comfortable! :)

Old MacDonald...sort of

2009-06-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am once again overwhelmed with pictures and stories to blog about. We must be having fun or something! ;) We sure have enjoyed seeing so much family lately. We especially had a great time in Utah last weekend where we got to spend time with both of our families. We got to meet our new nephew Michael, and we got to attend our niece Katie's blessing! I've got tons of great pictures to sort through and organize into albums and posts.

Until then, James has picked up another piece of a song. He sang it all last weekend, but I wasn't able to catch it on video. James was in a goofy mood when I took this video, so it's not all that clear, but it's definitely funny. At least I think so. :)

Wheels on the Bus

2009-06-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

Funny story...on Monday I received a text message from my mom (Hi, Mom!) that said simply, "May 14th!" What was she referring to, you may wonder? Can you figure it out? I sure couldn't. Turns out she was referring to the date of my last entry on this blog. ;) Ha ha.

Yep, I know it's been a while. We've been pretty busy! Now I have all kinds of fun things I can blog about, and once again I find myself not knowing where to start.

For the sake of moving along and getting things going again, I decided to start with this cute video I took last night. I've been trying to teach James a song, but he wasn't really picking up on any of the songs I was choosing. Then, sometime last week, I noticed he was humming along with one of his toys that plays "Wheels on the Bus". I jumped at my chance, and sure enough, James started singing "round and round" that very day!

My favorite part is his little laugh at the very end of the video. Oh, he makes me smile. :)

Changing Table Antics

2009-05-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

This is what happens lately when I strap James onto his changing table to change his diaper:

It all started one day when James started stretching his arms and legs out when I laid him down. I just couldn't resist those cute little armpits! :)

WW - Before and After

2009-05-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

Time Out?

2009-05-12T14:25:00.001-07:00

James has recently mastered pulling himself up onto chairs. He'll walk up to the chair and pull his whole body up using basically only his arms. Once he's there he likes to sit for a while like a big boy, and then, when that gets old, he either keeps on climbing (onto the table, for example) or he climbs down and toddles away. Most of the time, anyway. Other times, somehow, he forgets that he knows how to get down. He'll sit and sit until he gets rather frustrated and starts to cry. Those times, he will literally stay there until we pick him up.

The first time I realized this was the case was Saturday afternoon. Paul set him down on the ottoman in his room (which James likes to climb on from time to time). We were both in the room with him, but he turned to us and said "Bye bye!" So we laughed, said "Bye bye" and walked out. And he stayed there. And stayed and stayed. Every time we peeked around the corner of his door he was still chilling there, babbling away. After a good ten minutes of this (at least), James started to get upset, and we ended up going in and rescuing him from his self-inflicted time out.

Strange child.

Saturday Sunshine

2009-05-11T10:19:00.001-07:00

We had a pretty great Mother's Day weekend. On Friday, our friend Emily flew into town for a friend's wedding and we got to spend the evening with her eating good food and playing games. Unfortunately, she had to leave bright and early the next morning. We hope you find more reasons to come visit Portland, Emily! :)

We dropped Emily off at the Portland Temple in Lake Oswego, and since we were there, we decided to go to a French bakery near Paul's work for a delicious breakfast. After stuffing our faces, Paul and I decided it was time to buy James his first Wiffle ball and bat! It was a gorgeous day, so we went to a big field at a middle school close by and had a great time playing 2 on 2 Wiffle baseball with our friends, the Belnaps. Thanks for coming to play, guys! In the match up of the Petersons versus the Belnaps, the Petersons did very well and kept a pretty good lead until they blew it in the last inning (I tried to tell Paul it was a bad idea for me to pitch! ;) ). The Belnaps went home Champions. :) I'm thinking we need a rematch. Ha ha. What do you think Adam and Claudia?

Anyway, we did spend some time trying to teach James to swing a bat, but he wasn't really interested. He was more into chasing the balls around and enjoying the sunshine. Here are some cute pictures we took of James with his new toys:

James now says "bat", and he toddles around the living room dragging his bat all over the place saying "bat! bat! bat!" It's pretty cute. :)

A not so brilliant idea...

2009-05-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

So, one of the things the doctor mentioned at James' 15 month check up was that James should be working on learning how to feed himself with a spoon. By the time he's 18 months old he should be able to use a spoon "with minimal spilling". Well, I haven't been very good about letting James get practice with spoons lately because I'm not patient enough. It's just so much faster for me to feed him! Alas, I know I need to let him learn, so I thought I came up with a brilliant plan.

I got one spoon for me and one for James. That way, he could get some practice feeding himself, but it wouldn't take forever because I would feed him bites in between. Well, it didn't work so well. James wanted both spoons. And when I took mine away from him...well, see for yourself (pay close attention to his face...I hope it comes across in the video):

Warning: It's very cute, but also sad. I'm probably a bad mom for posting it on the internet. ;) What can I say? I think it's cute!

I promise James isn't like this every time I take something away from him. He's usually very laid back about it. I don't know what it was about that spoon...

15 Month Stats

2009-05-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

Height: 30" (17th percentile)
Weight: 20 lbs. 13 oz. (6th percentile)
Head Circumference: 48 cm. (74th percentile)

Yeah...pretty much more of the same! Short, skinny guy with a whole lot of brains! ;)

James' doctor said he is healthy and is pleased with his development. He was especially impressed by James' talking, and said that James is more advanced than some two year olds in that department. Way to go verbal skills!

Musical genius?

2009-04-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok...I know I just posted about how I was putting up too many videos, but I can't wait on this one. It's been obvious since James was born that he loves music and has a bit of a knack for it. Today on the phone, my mom jokingly asked if I was teaching James to sing. And actually, I guess we kind of are because James is in an early childhood music class where they introduce echo singing (short phrases of just rhythm and both rhythm and melody). The kids James' age (including James) just listen to the teacher and stare when it's their turn to sing.

Just now, I started singing phrases to James like the teacher of his class does...and he sang back! He goes up in pitch when I do, and down when I do. And sometimes he gets eerily close to the correct pitches. Of course I grabbed for the camera as fast as I could:

Crazy, isn't it?! And he's still singing right now as he toddles around the room. Crazy, crazy boy!

Yes, another video!

2009-04-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

You're probably thinking something along the lines of, "What's with all the videos lately?" Hopefully you aren't getting tired of them! James has been quite demonstrative for the camera in the last week or so. It's really fun to ask him to do something and have him actually do it! :) He still freezes up in front of other people, but at least he's warmed up to the camera. Ha ha.

Today we decided to take a break from the talking videos and document how James' walking is progressing. Most of the walking that he does during the day is between the couch and his toys. :)

He's getting pretty good! See for yourself:

That distance (from the toys to the couch) is about as far as he can handle at once, but he's getting much more consistent with it. I have hope that he'll master it before joining the nursery at church (in three months!!).

Oh, and how do you like his climbing skills? He just hops up onto the couch regularly. He likes sitting by me and climbing on my lap. :)

WW - Cousin Bonding Time

2009-04-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

(This was so cute. Becca kept putting her arm around James and trying to get him to watch the Signing Time DVD with her. :) )