For Angie

My sister Angie gave Sally this adorable outfit more than two years ago. It finally fits (actually, the top is still too big). I need to have some professional portraits taken of Sally in these clothes (after finding a suitable undershirt). Here is my best attempt at a photo shoot--not horrible for being completely unplanned.

Thanks, Angie! If Sally were your child she'd be a lot better dressed.

The Current State of Things

Here's what's going on with the Petersons these days (I wrote this about a week ago and am just now posting it):

Austin:

-Sleeps for 5 hour stretches many nights, and almost never less than 4 hour stretches
-Loves to look at the blinds, the curtains in my bedroom, and pictures on the wall by the kitchen table, and the ceiling fans
-Does very well at holding up his head
-Pushes himself up a few inches when I put him on his tummy
-Is patient with Sally’s constant hugs and kisses, but protests when Sally wants to play “Got your nose!”
-Loves to straighten out his legs and “stand” when I hold him on my lap (just like Sally used to do)
-Is starting to be really smiley, although I’ve yet to catch a smile on camera
-Is so sweet and patient--he is almost too easy!

Sally:



-Is getting into the world of make-believe big time. Every day she is either Snow White, Cinderella, Dr. Nelson (her pediatrician), “Daddy’s little tiny baby”, Mama Bear, or Mrs. Bruin (from the Berenstain Bear books)
-Is getting over her dislike of Neal phase (thank goodness!!!!)
-Is starting to understand rhyming words
-Likes to play a silly word game with me that goes something like this, for example: “Mommy, do we drink tubby water? Do we wash our bodies with milk?”
-Often incorporates peril into her make-believe scenarios. A few examples: “My baby is gone—a mean guy took her!” “I cut myself with a sharp knife!” “I’m in my car and another car crashed into me. I was wearing my seatbelt.” “My baby touched the hot oven and burned her hand!” Where on earth would she get ideas like this?
-Likes to watch movies and will sit through most of a movie, much to my delight and dismay. It is nice to have the “down time”, but I don’t want her to get too hooked.

-Neal:

-Is not enjoying his current rotation—internal medicine at the KU hospital, which is full to the brim. Lots of paper work and 13 hour days don’t make for a happy Neal
-Is excited for March Madness
-Works a lot
-Loves his baby boy
-Does a great impersonation of Goofy, which may have helped him to win Sally back over

Emily:

-Can’t wait for warm weather
-Loves being at home with Sally and Austin, but wishes Neal were home earlier in the evening
-Has awesome friends from church that make motherhood even more fun
-Is tired, but not too tired
-Needs to find a way to get more into her days (such as reading, exercising, projects) rather than just playing with kids and taking care of the household. In short, wants some “ME” time.
-Felt empowered by a recent successful shopping trip to the mall with two kids (success = found some new jeans while both kids were well behaved and happy)
-Needs to learn how to take better pictures

The New Normal

Life with two kids is not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, bad is not a word that should be used to describe it at all. Life with two children so far is great. I love spending every day with two delightful children. Sally is so fun and creative and entertains me every day, and Austin is as sweet as a baby can be. I feel so blessed that things so far have gone so well. Since Austin has been born:
*I have felt physically very well. I hardly needed pain medication in the hospital after the birth, and I didn’t need any once I got home. I’ve had the energy I’ve needed to get right back into the swing of things.
*Sally has been a VERY good girl. I was afraid that she would have lots of tantrums and demand a lot of extra attention the first few weeks after Austin was born, but that hasn’t been the case at all. She is the same fun, energetic, and sweet little girl. She loves Austin and can’t hug and kiss him enough.
*Austin has been a very good baby. He is calm most of the time, and is a great eater and sleeper. When he is upset, he is very easily calmed down.
*For the first week or so after coming home from the hospital, I would get up twice in the night to feed Austin, but since then I’ve only been getting up once in the night. I’d prefer to not get up at all, but that’s an unreasonable expectation at this point, and I’m sure it won’t be long before that’s the case.

Some days are hard and I’m sure that there will be hard times still to come, but I’m no longer nervous about the situation. I think we are all settling into the new normal, and life is good.

I have a lot more photos I want to post and a great deal more to say, but I'll conclude for now because my baby needs me.

Welcome, Little Big Guy!

Much to my delight, Neal and I have a brand new baby boy:

Austin Cornelius Peterson
February 15, 2010, 4:55 AM
8 lb 12 oz
21 1/4 in
Strawberry blond hair

High points:

-Going into labor on my own--no inductions this time!
-Only having to push 4 times to get him out
-A very fun and sweet visit from Sally
-No trouble nursing so far
-My wonderful friend Rosemary taking Sally last night when things starting getting intense

Low points:

-Acid reflux disturbing my slumber last night before he was born
-Multiple nurses having trouble getting my IV started
-Having Neal all but laugh out loud at me during hard contractions (pre-epidural) and tell me that I have no pain tolerance
-The indignity of being helped to the bathroom (before my epidural wore off) by two nurses who commented to my face how difficult it is for them to help people who are so much bigger than them (I'm laughing about it now)

Some photo highlightgs:

The sweet little guy snoozing:



My favorite part of the day:


Father and son:


My sweet little kids meeting at last:


Our happy family:


While I'm totally surprised by his hair color and size, I love him so much and can't wait to get to know him better.

Portraits

When we were in Utah, my sister-in-law Korrin took some pictures of Sally. Here are some of my favorites. They need a bit of help from photo shop (which Neal got for Christmas, but has a hard time using because our computer is bogged down with something and is terribly slow lately). Thanks, Korrin!

2010 Resolutions

I wrote this post on January 8, but for some reason never posted it. Here are some of my resolutions for this year:

-Create an exercise plan and stick with it (I need to figure out what I can reasonably do. I can always do exercise videos at home, but I’d rather run. The problem is finding a time when Neal is home and it isn’t pitch black outside so I can leave…which really is a problem).

-Do more personal reading (I’m not sure how to accomplish this one…since I’ve been working again, I have very little spare time, so this will come at the expense of other things. I’m not sure what yet).

-Finish the denim quilt I started before I got married (the problem is a lack of a sewing machine, but I guess that is just an excuse because I have a few friends who are willing to let me borrow theirs. I finally have enough old jeans to finish, so I really have no excuse).

-Redecorate my bedroom and the kids’ room. I’m currently working on this one and hope to at least have the kids’ room done in the next 5 weeks. [Now 11 days...I've been working on both rooms and have made reasonable progress]

-Be more loving (which includes looking for the good in people, responding patiently both internally and externally to trying situations, overlooking faults, being quick to forget misdeeds against me or my family members, being a better listener, being better at staying in touch with family and friends):

A few thoughts on one area of my life in which I could be more loving:

Having a two-year-old has certainly tested my patience and helped me to realize that I have a lot of room for improvement. While I don’t have many regrets about how I’ve responded to frustrating situations with Sally, I do have regrets about how I’ve felt inside. I’ve found that while I can respond patiently most of the time, I often feel like I’m going to explode internally.

While I absolutely love Sally more than I can even describe, my feelings aren't always consistent with my attitude. I’ve had a few situations/conversations that have helped me to realize that my attitude toward Sally is less loving than it should be. I’ve realized that in some areas I have unreasonably high of expectations for her and that I get really annoyed when they are not met. I also could be a lot more positive in what I say to other people about Sally.

In truth (based on what people have told me and my own perception, of course), Sally is a very polite and well-behaved two-year old. She minds me most of the time, she tries to do things that please me, she is happy and bright, and she is progressing very well in just about every area that Neal and I would like to see her progress in. So what if potty training isn’t a piece of cake like I hoped it would be? So what if she is full of energy and has a hard time sitting still at church and a hard time not touching things at other people’s houses? So what if she has tantrums every once in a while? She is barely TWO, for goodness sake! Why can’t I just focus on all the things that she is great at when I talk to people about her instead of bringing up the bad situations? I guess part of it is not wanting to brag and annoy people, but I really ought to remember what Thumper’s father told him about not saying anything at all.

Just when you think you have it all figured out...

Things change. I'm excited for my little baby boy to be born, but scared at the same time. Scared about how Sally will react to getting less attention, scared about being exhausted (and less patient as a result), and scared that my little family will outgrow my little house before our time here is up. At this point my excitement outweighs my fear, and I'm sure it will stay that way. If all goes according to the plan, baby brother will be here in 11 days, and the answers to all of my questions will begin to unfold...exciting!