Four Months Old

I can't believe that Peter is four months old already! Time is flying by so fast. I so want him to get bigger so that he and Charlie can play together, but at the same time I want him to stay this cute smiley baby forever.

We went to the doctor for his check-up and shots yesterday. His is 17 lbs 3.5 oz and Dr. Smith said he's doing great. I am so grateful for happy and healthy kids!

Bath Time

Peter LOVES baths. He was about a week and a half old when he had his first one and he just sat there with this content look on his face, wiggling his fingers and toes in the water. The past couple of nights, when he hears the water running and I start undressing him, he has started to giggle. It's the cutest thing! He was smiling so big tonight, until I turned the camera on. Then he just stared, but I thought I'd share the video anyway.

Charlie also loves baths, but only if he has lots of toys and lots of bubbles! He loves his foam letters and lines them all up on the wall, shouting out their names as he goes. With Charlie, the alphabet is not a quiet thing.


And by the way, thanks Alita and Mindy for the comments about Adobe Photoshop Elements. I did decide to keep it and I love it. I haven't done a ton with it, but the quality of the red eye removal alone is worth it! Can't wait to figure it all out!

Fantasy Portraits

We got some fun portraits taken of our boys! Many of you know Patti. Well her dad, Allen, has his own business creating fantasy pictures of kids. He does fairies, princesses, knights, dragons, mermaids, and all sorts of fun fantasy situations. He got my son making poses and laughing, something I can never get him to do in front of a camera. Here are the ones he did of my adorable kids. And as fun as these ones are, the girl ones are even more so. Check out his website to learn more here or by clicking any of the pictures below. And for those of you that know Patti, you'll recognize Ryan in many of his sample portraits.

A Little Obsessed

Charlie grew up in front of my camera phone. I used to send pictures to my family constantly when he was a baby, so naturally as he got older, he always wanted to play with it. At about 18 months old, he figured out that he could hear people talking, and started wanting to talk to them. By the time he turned two, he had to say hi to anyone that I talked to. Now it's getting out of hand. He loves to answer it when it rings and throws a tantrum when I don't let him. He follows me around while I'm talking saying, "Charlie's turn. Talk talk talk . . ."He knows how to call the last person who called. He knows how to call Aunt Brittany (because she's the first person on the contact list). He knows how to answer the call waiting. And he's the one that figured out how to do three-way-calling. If you missed the video that I posted of him talking to Grandpa Ron, you can see it here. No matter where I hide the phone, he always manages to find it. So if anyone gets a call from him at 5:30 in the morning I apologize. We're working on weaning him from it. :-)

Pictures of the "Bee"

Charlie can't quite get "Peter" out. It usually turns into Pick, or Pee, or Peeb or Prick. Usually he just calls him Bee, so that's kind of what he's become. He's still sleeping A LOT, but he has smiled a few times. Never when I have a camera, but he has the sweetest smile and I will post a picture when I manage to get one. He's a strong little thing, and more strong willed than Charlie was, but he's still a pretty good baby. Now if I could just get Charlie to stop picking on him . . . he loves to pull Peter's hair or poke him in the eye, and then he also loves to tell him he's sorry and give him a kiss. Typical older sibling . . .

Happy Boy


Sleepy Boy

Hiccup-y Boy

The Boys

So I was look at pictures of Charlie when he was a newborn and I really don't think he looks anything like Peter! I was completely prepared to have another "cookie cutter" child of my husband's family. My sister-in-law's children all have their own little variations within the same look, so I figured my kids would be the same. The genes seem to be pretty strong. But I don't know anymore. Peter is completely different. Maybe it's just me and they actually look more alike than I think they do . . . We'll see what happens as he gets older . . .

Peter:Charlie:Charlie & Peter with their cousins: (Charlie's the one in orange, and Peter is the baby with the red face)

And Three Become Four

So, as Mike said we now have another baby boy. We have tentatively decided to name him Peter Evan. I'm still not sure if it fits him, but it was really the only name that Mike and I could remotely agree on. He was born on Tuesday, March 18th at 5:05 pm. 8 pounds 7 ounces, 21 inches and except for some slight jaundice, he's completely healthy. I am so happy to not be pregnant anymore! This whole experience was SO much easier on me than Charlie's birth! I actually started crying when they told me I was done because I couldn't believe it could be that easy. I now fully understand why people choose to have more children. Charlie absolutely loves him. He loves to point out that the baby has eyes . . . and ears . . . and hair . . . Peter is going to have to quickly get used to being poked and prodded. Also, in true big brother fashion, Charlie loves to point and laugh when Peter cries.

New Baby

Kirsten always manages the blog but she's out of commission tonight due to our new baby. Her water broke at 3:30 am this morning. We took our time getting to the hospital because Charlie took so long to come. We arrived at about 6:30 am and eventually the new baby came at about 5:00 pm. Kirsten did great. I was so impressed. She pushed for only 30 min and was up and walking about two hours later. Wow. Anyway here is a picture of our new baby without a name. Kirsten, I'm sure will post a lot more comments and pictures later.

Naming Baby Boy

Last year, I was talking to my Grandpa who said that he always gets inspiration for what his grandkids names are supposed to be, but no one ever uses the names he picks. Because Mike and I are totally clueless when it comes to what to name this baby, I told him I would seriously consider his pick and to let me know what it is as soon as he figures it out. He said he'd probably be dead by then and I told him he better come to me in a dream and let me know what it is. Well, my grandpa died in December, and as sad as it is, I'm a little mad at him for not coming back in my dreams to tell me what to name my child.

Last weekend, Charlie and I drove down to Utah and spent some time at my grandparents house. My mom came across a list of names in my Grandpa's handwriting. Evidently he had made a list of all the boys he knew growing up- three and a half pages worth. Here's a little taste of what he had:

Orrin

Weston

Hershell

Franklin

Gordan

Theodore

Conway

Peter

Maurice

Dean

Ferral

Stuart

Nathan

Glenn

Waldo

Warren

Edward

Edwin

Leland

Lamont

Simon

Thaine & Wayne (twins)

Seymore

Leo

Lee

Golden

Lawrence

Dyke

Myron

Reed

Max

Moses

Hatch

Reynold

Thomas

Soloman

Hatch

Ned

What do you think? I like Waldo . . . just kidding. That's not even 1/4 of the names, but do you think any of them have any potential? We thought of just going with my grandpa's name, but then we'd have Charlie and Chet (Chester) and that's more than a little too "matchy" for me. Mike and I are realizing that this baby is coming in about a month, and we don't even have a narrowed down list of names. Boy names are hard!

So . . . any ideas?

It's a . . .

BOY! Another one. We're absoulutely thrilled! He is measuring a week ahead just like Charlie always did, which makes me realize that I've got to prepare for another 9+ pound baby. Oh well

He was moving around so much that the technician was having a hard time getting any good pictures, but here is what we did get. The first is a video, and although he's just yawning, I think it looks a little creepy. Enjoy!