Fourth of July Weekend (and 6 3/4 months!)

Many, many things have happened since my last posting. This one is so very overdue so I will hit the highlights:

On June 6th, Peter got to go to a wedding for the first time. Our friends Matthew and Nancy got married, but since we were sitting in the back corner I did not get any good pictures. I think I deleted them all! However, Matt, Jen and baby Audrey were in town for the wedding and I got a good one of Audrey! I'll be sure to attach that picture. It was a beautiful wedding with lovely flowers, yummy food and a beautiful bride. The groom couldn't stop smiling, either! Congratulations!!!

A couple weeks later, I finally found an armoire for our TV, dvd player, vcr, tapes, dvds, cables, reciever, remotes, etc, etc, etc....so the three of us piled into Luke's Ford Ranger - Luke driving (my efforts driving a stick-shift vehicle have always ended terribly and sometimes rather dramatically...ask sometime about the time when we were driving to our birthing class...), Peter in the passenger seat and me in the backseat! Since it's an older truck, there are no airbags and the backseats flip down from the sides, not facing forward, so Peter had to sit in the front! That was a little weird, and since he could see me the whole time, he cried, so I had to duck down behind the seat so he couldn't see me. That was just too weird! We did end up, however, with a beautiful cabinet that very nicely hides all of our junk! Well, the tv junk, anyway...now what to do with the rest of it???????

Peter now rolls like crazy. If he's on the floor, he'll be halfway across the room before too long. He can even pull with his arms while also pushing with his feet and scoot himself forward a bit, too.

While he still LOVES to spit, he's also discovered his tongue and likes to make clicking sounds sometimes. But more often than that, he plays with his lower lip by sucking it in and then pushing it back out, over and over and over and over again.

He is able to sit, aided with my Boppy nursing pillow (it's shaped like a horseshoe) for long periods of time, and can sit completely alone for....about 10 seconds. But he is getting stronger and stronger. Each week he's able to do new things it seems.

A few weeks ago, Peter and I went on a marathon garage saleing spree one Thursday armed with a stroller, water bottle, snacks (for me) and $40. We bought puzzles, two plastic play barns with people and animals (I think they are both Fisher Price, one is just, well, a little dated and runs completely without batteries!), two shirts for me as well as a couple bracelets, a glass that matches our set to replace #12 that broke a year or so ago, LOADS of clothes for Peter including: more, bigger summer clothes, jeans, dress shirts, pajamas (fuzzy winter ones!), regular shirts and more things that I can't remember. We came home with $8 left over! I love garage sales. Oh, and, the dated Fisher Price barn without batteries that cost $.25? It's Peter's favorite!!!

We also went to Iowa Conference, a Bible conference our church has each summer, in June. It, too was, of course, Peter's first time there. We finally landed a really nice, albeit rather small, cabin and had a pretty good time. It's much different when one brings kids along - no more late nights at Happy Chef after bowling or mini-golfing or whatever is going on that night. Oh, well...I had a really good book along! Peter also spent two mornings during the morning session in the nursery. He did very well and I was quite happy.

Two weekends ago, Big Lake celebrated Spud Fest (ours is a community full of potato farms) complete with a carnival across the street from our apartment (fun...), fireworks and a parade. Well, that's just what we went to. The carnival was, well, a small town, overpriced, greasy food-filled, noisy carnival. With rides. Expensive rides. I wanted to go on the Tilt-a-Wirl so badly.....but instead I just enjoyed the ride from afar. Not quite the same. Peter, however, enjoyed his first parade with our friends Rebecca (her husband, Willie, is one of the community's potato farmers!), Courtney and James and their two darling kids - Corinne and Daniel. Peter was quite taken with Corinne...

That same weekend, Luke, at the prompting of something he read in his psychology textbook, decided Peter should try tasting something with a really strong flavor...something like....an onion. Well, we finally agreed on a lemon, sliced it up and let him have a taste. If I can get the video to load, I'll let you see his whole body shudder he does when trying something new. It's pretty funny!

And now we reach this past weekend - Peter's first Fourth of July! We spent the weekend at the cabin with family and friends. Luke got to try one of his "Bucket List" items - being on the fireworks crew! I was a little nervous, but he came back with no missing limbs or fingers and had a huge smile on his face. I guess the fireworks up in Garrison were especially spectacular this year!

Peter got to go on his first paddle boat ride, had his first taste of watermelon, pineapple and a host of other fruits and cooked carrots. We have this little mesh bag with a handle on it that you can stick any type of food into (within reason, of course) and then let them chew/suck on it. They are able to get any liquid out and all the flavor without any chunks that they might choke on. He did not get to see any fireworks as that is WAAAAAAY his bedtime and, quite honestly, I'm pretty sure he'd be a complete mess and terrified of the noise. He did, however, spend lots of time on the beach and with everyone there.

Picture time!

Hanging out while I wash the dishes.

Watching TV with Uncle Ben.

Baby Audrey!

Our new armoire that we had to drive to south Minneapolis, Peter in the front seat and me in the back to get...what a ride!

Typical guys. Heaven forbid they actually have to sit close enough to touch! :) Love you guys...

All clean!

Why is he happy? Because he's playing with his new barn!!!

Still playing, still loving.

Don't know why it wouldn't rotate this one the right way...

He JUST woke up.

Peter and Lucy in what is quickly becoming a typical pose around our home.

One night we had a rainbow...two rainbows!

See his teeth?

For whatever reason, Lucy likes to hang out back there in Peter's room.

My little brother. Isn't he so cute?

This is what the guys did most of the weekend at the cabin...

And this is what the kids and the moms did!

He isn't such a fan of cool lake water.

He didn't really like this either. Can't imagine why...I love it!

Eating breakfast with Auntie Kerri and Uncle Brad.

He really did not like his lifejacket...

Awww....

But he LOVED the boatride!

Getting ready for the fireworks!

Kyaking...beautiful cool morning.

Lucy just adores this game....jump off of the dock to retrieve a ball! Her pal (and twin?), Stewart is still on the dock. She beat him to it.

Meeting the Neighbors

By the end of the story below, you'll know the significance of this picture.

This morning, Peter, Lucy and I got to meet some of our new neighbors. The hard way.

We were getting ready to go for a walk, without the stroller (it's locked in the garage...another story!), so I had to strap Peter into the Baby Bjorn, put the leash on Lucy, grab my cell phone, grab a plastic bag (for Lucy, you know) and head out the door. Except that as soon as the door slammed shut behind me, I realized I was missing something. You see, we have one of those locks on our apartment door that even if it's locked, you can still open it from the inside, but once you're out it's still locked. I quickly rummaged through the pocket on my favorite gray hooded sweatshirt (I'm sure you've all seen me wear it a million times)...phone, plastic bag. Leash in my hand. Peter strapped to my front. NO KEYS!!!!!

So there I was with baby and dog, locked out of the apartment but still in the building. Luke has our other key...but since he started his first day of school today (yay, Luke!), and was nowhere near or able to leave even if he was nearby, we were sort of on our own. I started knocking on neighbors' doors one after another until I found a man named Pat at home. He lives across the hall in 202 and was on the phone when he came to the door. He said that he's gotten locked out before and just climbed onto the balcony (we live on the second floor) and walked into his sliding door. That sounded great, except where on earth was I going to get a ladder? I couldn't get into our garage!!! He didn't have one, was busy and on the phone, so I said, "Thanks." and left.

The next door I knocked on was 204. No answer. So I turned around and knocked on 203. The door opened and there was a very pregnant lady standing in the doorway! She and her husband used to be the caretakers, so she thought she knew of a way to get back into my apartment. No luck. But she did have a ladder in her garage. Not a tall one, but a ladder nonetheless. So we traipsed outside to the garage, got the ladder, dodged the sprinklers (Peter got hit and didn't like it very much) and set it up below our balcony. Too short...but since I'm tall......Lisa (I thought we should introduce ourselves) offered to hold Peter while I climbed up the ladder. Just as I was working up the courage to do such a thing (I'm kind of a whimp when it comes to heights), neighbor Pat from 202 walked around the side of the building and offered to climb up. Fortunately he's pretty strong as he was only able to grab the balcony and then he had to pull himself up the rest of the way! Fwew...he didn't fall and die. :) He went in, got my keys, Lisa and I put the ladder away, Lucy, Peter and I went for a walk, came back and now I need to bake some cookies. I hope Pat and Lisa like chocolate chip!

Teeth!

Hello friends! It has been a terribly busy past month and a half...filled with packing up and moving, again, new teeth, unpacking...trying to figure out where to put everything, more teeth, less sleep, more sleep.....

So, yes, we have moved, again. You would think, that for as much as we dislike moving, we would just pick a spot and stay for the rest of our lives. Or at least for a few years. Right? I guess not. I mean, it's not like we ENJOY packing up, begging our friends and family to help, hauling it all out in a million trips, into a new place and then unpacking it all again. I kinda feel like we're those people who move all the time to hide their identity or something. Well, we aren't hiding, but we do get less junk mail! One day we'll find the right house and stay for a long time. For now, we'll enjoy our apartment. Oops, I mean our "residential suite". Besides, all this moving and transition time that we've had teaches us to be flexible, patient, organized, and I'm sure a lot of other good things that we haven't figured out yet. And...we're planning, God willing, to stay put until we're ready to buy a new house again. Yippee!

So now that I'm done apologizing for not being a better blogger in the past month and a half, I'll try to squeeze in as much as I can about Peter. He is changing and growing so fast, I can hardly keep up! I have a friend who, when her kids were babies, took a picture of them each Sunday and when they hit their first birthday, put all the pictures into a photo album and labeled it "A Year of Sundays". I wish I would have done that for Peter! I guess it would be weird to start at 5 1/2 months, though. We'll just have to make do with what we have!

Peter is seeming to be one of those babies who tries something new, masters it, does it ALL THE TIME for a few weeks and then stops. That's what he's done with many new things...rolling from back to tummy, tummy to back, sleeping long stretches at night... ;) He has finally started rolling from tummy to back again - mostly when he's supposed to be falling asleep but he'd rather not sleep. So he rolls over, gets mad because he doesn't sleep on his back and cries until one of us rolls him back over again. Well, he did that for a while...

His personality is really starting to develop lately, too. He smiles and laughs, oh, so much! I just love it! He's usually in a very good mood when he wakes up. I wake up to hearing him cooing and jabbering away to his two teddy bears that are in his crib. Typically, I put him down on his tummy with his feet almost touching the foot of his crib. By the time I go in to check on him before I go to bed, his head is almost hitting the head of his crib. So, I slide him down again. By the time he wakes up to eat, he has rolled over, slid on up to the head again, and most of the time has his head smashed up against the side of the bed. Sometimes he's laying sideways in bed, other times he has turned 180. It's always a surprise!

Over the past couple weeks, as we've moved and unpacked, he started cutting a couple teeth. The beautiful thing about it was that I didn't even realize he was cutting them until the first one was through! That was last Friday night - May 22nd. Last night, one week later, the second one finally cut through and now he's a happier camper again.

I really won't comment much on his sleeping habits as they change as soon as I say anything about them. He sleeps. And eats. :)

We drove down to Morristown to visit Luke's Grandma Jo and her brother, Uncle Bud one Sunday afternoon. It was their first time seeing Peter! And she just loved seeing him so much. It was a fun day.

On Mother's Day, we left church early, and drove to Darwin to visit some more of Luke's relatives. We saw his parents, ran over to an uncle's house to visit some aunts and uncles and then went over to the nursing home where his Grandma Ruth now resides. She had a stroke a little while back. It was so good to see her. She was even able to hold Peter for a picture. If she was able to, I'm certain she would have been beaming - as it was, you could see the joy in her eyes. I'm so glad we made that trip!

We enjoyed our first pretend camping trip of the year last weekend. My family congregated at my parents' cabin and we got to sleep in the camper. How's that for roughing it? The weather was beautiful, although rather windy on Monday, and we soaked up lots of sun, fishing, hanging out on the beach, and ball throwing into the lake for Lucy. She almost NEVER tires of that game. It was a wonderful first Memorial weekend with a baby!

I'm sure I'm missing a lot, but that's all I can think of for now. Now for the pictures!

Sophia "reading" a story from her Bible to Peter. I think she'll make an excellent mommy someday!

Well, one Sunday morning five minutes before we needed to leave...

Peter and Luke at Grandma Jo's. Uncle Bud is in the background. This was the best shot I could get of him. He pretty adamantly did not want his picture taken.

Peter and Great-Grandma Jo.

Hanging out with Grandma P. one afternoon.

The last time Peter used his baby swing. Whenever it swung back, it looked like he was going to fall out forwards.

Helping our dear friend Samantha help us move!

Luke getting chewed out by his Grandma Ruth for never smiling in pictures. :)

Peter and Great-Grandma Ruth. She was smiling as best as she could!

When moving, we were going to move our beds one night and then realized we couldn't. Peter ended up sleeping one more time in the bassinet using a pillow sham cover as a sheet. I'm surprised he fit!

Peter LOVES his exersaucer.

My brother Brad and Uncle Jim posing in their waders before wading into the lake to fix the boat lift. Such strong and courageous men!

Hanging out with Great-Aunt Jen. (I was sure to put the "great" in there just for you, Jen!)

Swinging with Heidi.

Lucy R-E-A-L-L-Y wanted to keep playing fetch!

What good is a camera without a self-portrait? I'm not quite sure what that weird knee/elbow looking thing is in the front...my wrist maybe?

Playing in the sand with Abby. She lives up the hill from the cabin and loves playing with Peter!
We love it when she plays with him, too! :)

Chewing on daddy's pear with his new tooth.

Completely wore out from all the Memorial Weekend fun!

Working with Grandma.

Is he a ham or what?

Peter and Lucy. Friends for life.

Rolling Over

Peter rolled over from his back to his tummy today! I was on my lunchbreak...almost ready to head back out to the office when suddenly he ROLLED OVER!!! Yippee! Yay Peter!!!

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

I suppose I should really wait until next week to do this posting, as Peter will be 4 months old next week Wednesday - April 15th, but, Luke is on the phone (I'm waiting for him), I remembered that I started this but never finished, and well...I guess it's time to finish what I've started!

This past month, as you remember from my previous postings, Peter started rolling over from his stomach to his back, but after about two weeks of happily rolling over, he suddenly stopped. We have tried and tried to convince him to roll over again, but to no avail. He will have none of it. He merely looks up at us with his big brown eyes and pleads (or at least I'm sure that is what he would do if he could talk with us) with us to roll him over or better yet - to pick him up!

He is also starting to sleep longer stretches at night. I have decided it's more important to sleep through the night than sleep through the morning, so we're working on the 8pm-5am thing instead of dropping the early morning feeding. He still likes to wake up around 2-4, but he's slowly getting the hang of it, I think.

Naps are also slowly beginning to take on a regular cadence. Chaos isn't really my thing, unless it's organized...and a baby who naps whenever for however long isn't organized in the least! He may not be the longest napper in the world, but at least the nap times are getting more predictable. I love that!

He's officially wearing size 3 diapers and is mostly into 6-12 month size clothes. Still wears some 3-6 month size, but is growing out of them, even as I type, I'm sure.


He's graduated from his baby bathtub to the regular tub. We had some relatives make a surprise visit, and while they were here Peter and his second cousin Owen (who is 1-1/2 months older) got to spend some quality bonding time in the tub together. I'm not sure they even had a clue anyone else was in the tub...Owen was far too interested in his feet, and Peter was too busy smiling up at me and splashing as much as his little legs and arms could splash!

A couple weeks ago, I got together with a family that I used to work for - and their son Henry, who was two months old when I first started taking care of him, got to hold Peter! What a sweet and memory-filled time that was!

Well, winter is almost over. We Minnesotans eagerly await the true arrival of spring, warm weather, NO SNOW, and flowers/green grass/leaves on trees, and it's almost here. So close that some days I can smell spring coming. I love this time of year!

Easter is in 6 days, and I look forward to celebrating the Lord God Almighty's victory over the grave. I love that Easter is in spring - how fitting to know that the Lord created a way for us to have new life during a season filled with new life? It reminds me of a verse in 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." And I am filled with joy!

Every once in a while, Peter likes to suck on his thumb. I just love it.

Here we are, eagerly anticipating spring by going for a walk, and yet still knowing it's frigidly cold and snowy out so we must bundle up!

Here are Sophia, Elle and Josh (MY cousins!) after a long day at the Chidren's Museum...I guess Peter's wailing for 20 minutes in rush hour traffic on the way home tired them out!

Luke was paranoid that Peter was going to suddenly start rolling again and fall off of the counter onto the floor. He didn't.

Peter and Grandpa Prigge like to spend some quality bonding time together sometimes before Grandpa heads out to the office. This was one of those moments.

Remember Peter's best friend, Jackson? Here he is again! Peter wasn't too thrilled with sharing the limelight, I guess.

Peter, Great-grandma Geri, Elle and Sophia hanging out in the kitchen. Grandma kept telling me to go change his clothes into some cute pajamas or something - "He looks too old!" :)

One morning, as I changed the sheets on Peter's crib, I piled him and his bears onto the recliner in his room. He was really just more interested in chewing on his thumb and blanket.

This was my dad's and my lame-o attempt at making Peter look super cool. You know, with his hat on backwards....oh, well.

One day as we were at Caribou with my friends Christina and Sami, we ran into Jan and Jane - some other friends (and Jane is Christina's mother-in-law!) who were also having coffee. Peter and Jan were sharing a moment. He was very glad to see her!

Here's Peter and Jackson again. Peter was in a much better mood this time, but why do they both look like a couple of deer in headlights?

Here's Peter with Henry and his sister Mariah. Henry is 7 years old already!

Both above and below is Peter with his second cousin Owen who was visiting from Michigan. They bonded.

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for...Peter's American Idol audition piece! He really gets into singing along with Darlene Zschech!

(Need I even mention how much he loves being sung to?)