It's Been Awhile!

Well, since Peter hit the one-year-old mark, I've been pretty lax about updating my blog. Bad mommy! So many things keep happening that I think to myself, "I need to write that in my blog," but do you think I remember half of them? Of course not. And so, if it's true that parents typically record EVERYTHING for the first child and get progressively worse with each new child...ours are doomed! :)

I think I'll just stick with pictures and see where that takes me this time...

Peter and his friends Kristina and Marianna playing in Lucy's kennel. :)

Here we are in front of our tree at Christmastime! Can you tell it was a quick take a picture before we have to take down the tree shot? :)

This is one of Peter's many goofy smiles. :) We just love it! I caught him climbing into the cupboard one day, but didn't get the camera quite quickly enough...still cute, though!

Bath time is definitely a favorite!

One day he fell into a pot that he was playing with...

I scrambled to grab the camera, laughing really hard the whole time...

And he ended up thinking it was pretty funny, too!

Oh, man...this yogurt and granola is soooooo good!

My awesome, super good looking husband doing the dishes for me. :)

Peter and his friend Evie!

What can I say? His hands were cold! ;)

I love self-portraits. Luke does not so much. Peter just smiles whenever the camera comes out.

Peter was practicing driving and talking on the phone at the same time one day.

Apparently he got too frustrated and ripped the box. Doing two things at once is such a challenge sometimes! :)

More nerdy self-portraits. I definitely do not look 20 anymore!

And here was my chunky little monkey a year ago!

Two Quick Things

1. Peter decided to start walking yesterday! We knew he could do it, but I guess he just wanted to be sure he was good and able...he's definitely not off and running full speed ahead just yet, but I don't think it will be long!

2. We are having another boy! My 20 week ultrasound was yesterday. All looks great so far! Now to pick out a name...

Man, what a busy day...

Happy Birthday, Little One!

Today is Peter's first birthday! Wow!!!!! Where on earth did the past year go? I feel like I'm saying that a lot these days.... :) Oh, well. I'm a mom; it's legal, right?

Here are some of the highlights from the past month:

• Today I realized, at lunch, that he knows how to shake his head in a very emphatic "no". And he knows what it means! I discovered this as I was trying to feed him broccoli...
• We had his birthday party last Saturday night. It was a small affair, as first birthdays are really for the adults more than they are for the kids, anyway, and plus, our apartment is too small to hold more than our immediate families, anyway! We had over: Luke's parents, my parents, my brothers: Brad & Kerri and Ben & Brittany. Lots of presents, attention and my, oh, my did he love his cake! At first he just was mushing it all up on his high chair tray until he realized he could eat it and after that first bite, the rest was history! See pictures below.
• He spent his first Thanksgiving at Great-grandma Jo's house. He loved spending time with Great, great uncle Bud and meeting some of his second cousins.
• He still loves Lucy. His favorite game to play with her is something sort of like fetch. Except that he's the one who fetches the ball and brings it back - to her. She gets a little annoyed and drops the ball and walks away. He is not deterred, though. He keeps bringing it back and shoving it into her mouth over and over and over and over.....that ball belongs in her mouth, after all!
• Loves to say the "s" sound. Especially when I'm counting as I snap up his clothes after a diaper change. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc. When I get to 6 and 7, he mimics the "s" sound.
• He likes to mimic much of what we say and some of what we do. He doesn't know what he is saying yet, though. Except for the shaking head no thing. Last night at the dinner table, Luke had his face resting on his hand and his other hand running through his hair. Pretty soon, Peter was doing the same thing. It was so funny!
• He is fully weaned.
• Within a week or so, four more teeth popped through! The two on the bottom on either side of the middle two teeth and two upper molars. Wow! He went from 6 to 10 teeth in a matter of days!
• He is not walking on his own yet, but loves to hang onto hands or furniture and cruise around. Soon enough he'll figure it out.
• He took his first tumble down some stairs at Grandma and Grandpa's house on their basement stairs. I would like to blame them, but alas, it was all me! I was in the bathroom...
• We had weaned him to cow's milk a week or so ago, but I don't think his body is quite ready, so we'll wait a bit longer and try it again.
• And the most exciting news of all, is that Peter will be a big brother in about 6 months! Yeah!! And so if you've taken the time to read all of this stuff that really only parents care about, it has now been worth it. Unless you already knew. Then it didn't matter. :)

Pictures!

Well, the pictures are in the wrong order, again. Bear with me! Here he is playing fetch with his beloved Lucy.

Sideways picture of his cake decorated by his very own cake decorator. Me!

He apparently liked the burritos we made for his birthday party dinner.

Above and below: note the Mountain Dew bottle he is clutching. Thanks, Brad! That was his favorite toy!

Happy Birthday singing time!

At first, he wasn't sure what to do with the cake...

But he didn't take too long to figure it out!

Yummy!

One year pictures at Lisa's! Thanks, Lisa!

He just woke up. Wasn't in the mood for pictures, I guess. :)

One of his favorite toys at Grandma's house. I think it was mine. It's a little wind up "radio" that plays "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" over and over...

Cute family shot at Stephen and Suzy's wedding in October.

He loves riding on daddy's shoulders!

Stephen and Suzy!

Awww....

This is typically Lucy's hangout spot during meals. Wonder why? :)

This was my rocking chair when I was young...

Peter and his trusty steed, Lucy.

Thanksgiving day - Uncle Bud. Peter really likes him!

Peter and Grandma Willing!

Great-grandma Jo and three of the great-grandkids on Thanksgiving day.

11 Months - late!

Quick rundown of the 11 month note-worthy things since I never got around to it then...oops, again! :)

• He started to mimic sounds/words, although he didn't have a clue what he was saying. Some of them were: uh-uh (as in no-no), juice, and he made a growl sound (when Luke did)
• Discovered at Wal Mart that if he shrieked (ah!), it would echo throughout the whole store. And so he did it over and over again, much to his delight and my dismay.
• On 11/15, he enjoyed watching "Toy Story" for the first time ever. Well, the first 40 minutes of it anyway. Then he got bored.
• He had something similar to the infamous swine flu. Was it or wasn't it? Since I didn't take him, we will probably never really know, but he was pretty sick for a week. Got it a half hour after Luke left to go deer hunting. Of course. Sigh...
• He was really into closing doors for a while. If he saw one that was open, he would crawl over and push it shut until he heard the click.
• He loves the slide at our apartment building.
• One day as I was doing laundry at my parents' house, he was babbling away to me in the other room. Suddenly I realized that I couldn't hear him anymore, so I went in search of him. High and low...couldn't find him, but every once in a while I could hear him! Odd!!! So I finally went upstairs to my brother's Ben's room, and there he was. Ben thought I had brought him up and I thought Ben must have brought him up. Unbeknownst (sp?) to us, he crawled up all on his own! Oops! I didn't know he could do that!!!
• Tooth #6 was, at 11 months, almost in.
• He loves bananas. LOVES them. Will eat like a regular adult. Wow.

10 months!

One of these days I will really get creative with my title. Then everyone will be so shocked that no one will really know what to do. So until then, I'll spare you all the sudden shock. I wouldn't want to cause any heart attacks or anything!

Peter, my little baby, is just growing and growing and growing. I really can't believe how quickly the time flies and how big babies can get so...quickly! I was taking a walk down memory lane the other day to a day in the not so distant past...that snowy December day last winter when Peter finally came. The past 10 months have just flown by.

This past month, Peter has started mimicking more sophisticated things that we do. For example, he and Luke were looking in a mirror and Luke stuck out his tongue at Peter. After a few attempts and giggles, Peter finally figured it out and stuck his back out at Luke.

He has really gotten his fake almost courtesy-ish laugh down pretty well. Just about anything will bring it on, too!

He now points at things.

He LOVES to watch the pictures change on our digital picture frame. He typically laughs at all the pictures of himself. He also likes to watch videos of himself...he likes to laugh at those, too!

He has 5 teeth! The fifth one came through two weeks and two days ago. That was a Wednesday...whatever date that was two weeks ago from today. I don't have a calendar right in front of me. I'd have to get up and walk to the kitchen. :) I think tooth #6 is working its way through, too.

He loves to eat!

He would eat yogurt at every meal if I'd let him. It's probably his favorite food, next to Cheerios, of course.

He has been to two more weddings in his little life with one more this coming Sunday! That's way more weddings than Luke had ever been to before he met and married me! :)

Peter is now fully crawling on all fours. Sometimes he gets going so fast and excitedly that he falls to his stomach, but he always gets back up to his knees. Sometimes it's still faster for him to use his forearms vs. hands, so he still looks like he's doing the army crawl sometimes.

He loves standing and will do so hanging onto whatever happens to be nearby...mom's leg, laundry basket (which often tips over as soon as he grabs it), kitchen chair, wall, dishwasher, dresser, Lucy (while she's eating!), coffee table, toilet...he's also had his first several bruises on his head due to this new obsession. Two days in a row he fell while hanging onto the toilet (I scrub the thing weekly and the seat AND lid are ALWAYS down. When not being used, of course, but then he wouldn't be hanging onto it...anyway...) and smacked his face on the floor or the cabinet in the bathroom or something. Ouch.

I gave him his first (well, actually second) haircut on Tuesday morning. It was getting sooo long and shaggy on the sides. If he had cute wavy or curly hair the shaggyness would be cute. But when it's stick-straight like mine and Luke's is, shaggy is not so cute. So I gave him a little trim and stuck the trimmings into a ziploc for safekeeping. Unfortunately, 10-month-olds are pretty wiggly...and so parts of it definitely look like someone (perhaps a young child?) took a scissors and just went "CHOP!" to his hair. Oh, well. It'll grow back!

Well, sadly enough, I cannot remember any more of the things I kept thinking of since his official 10-month mark on the 15th and thought, "I have to remember to write that in my blog!" So, I guess as I rememer them, I will add them. Bummer. Sorry Peter...

Picture time!

One of these days he is going to crawl to the edge of our bed, fall off of it and land on his head. He has no fear of such things.

September wedding - Cory and Mandy. Such a beautiful outside wedding!

Father-son bonding outside. I snuck this shot through the window. :)

We had a fun visit one day from my friend and former roommate from Rochester, Sarah! It was so good to see her again, and she finally got to meet Peter!

Peter is rather taken with Lucy and anything belonging to her...lately it's been her kennel. He worked for days at trying to climb over the little bar thing at the bottom of the opening so he could get in. This day he finally got it and oh, my was he proud! Lucy, on the other hand, didn't seem too thrilled.

His other great joy is getting into our TV cabinet and pulling out alllllll the movies.

We also had a fun surprise visit from my life-long friend, Rochelle and her youngest, Eli. Peter and I picked them up from the airport and drove them up to St. Cloud. She was in town for a very short visit (21 hours?) to see her brother and sister-in-law's group perform at a local Christian radio station's version of "American Idol". They did very well!

And here we are with Peter.

The day of Jeff and Denise's wedding, it snowed! 39 years ago on the day her parents got married (also October 10th), it snowed, too! Anyway, Peter needed to have his picture taken in this year's first snow. So adorable.

Newlyweds, Jeff and Denise. Congratulations!

Here's a picture of him after the haircut. Not too bad, I don't think!

I know there's food all over his face, but I just love this shot. He's just so...sweet.

I have finally figured out how to keep Peter occupied while I'm getting my make-up on and hair dried in the morning. Stick him in the sink and give him a hairbrush and the clock! This will only work, of course, until he figures out how to turn on the water.

Awwww....what a ham!