Our Busy Life

You wouldn't know it from *all* the blogging I've been doing lately but we've had a fairly busy 1st quarter of 2011. January started out uneventful and ended with a trip for Josie and me to Washington for my Grandma Lercher's funeral. It truly was a celebration of her life, we all told stories on her and laughed and cried and sang, "The Old Gray Mare". I completely forgot to take pictures the whole time I was there but I had fun catching up with all the family that came. There were a lot of cousins that it had been many many years since I had seen them. I stayed at Andrew's parent's house because I was pretty sure that all of the housing options on my side of the family would be filled, I was right. Also I really enjoy hanging out with Andrew's parents.

Can you believe that this is only a fraction of Grandma's posterity?

We wore purple as a tribute to her

Andrew's sister Stephanie turned 40 while I was there and her husband, Sean, threw her a surprise birthday party at an Irish Pub. Josie and I went and had some yummy food and totally surprised Stephanie. They had a live bag piper playing and Josie fell asleep to his playing. The bag piper was playing when Stephanie walked in and she turned to her friend and said, "Hey these are the guys that played our [annual St. Patrick's Day] party." Her friend turned and looked at her and said, "I know." Then she looked around and realized that she knew everyone in the room and that her parents were even there. :)

We got notification that Andrew's Grandma Gardner passed away while I was on the airplane flying home. So I literally got home and unpacked just to repack to drive to Wyoming for her funeral. Andrew's grandma was a Marine so her funeral wasn't as lively as my grandma's but it was still a beautiful service. They did the traditional military funeral gun salute and firing at the graveside service, it really made an impression on me. Peter loved the snow, there was about 2 feet or more on the ground, but he wouldn't leave his gloves on so his hands got cold but he got upset when he had to come in and warm them up.

Grandma & Grandpa Gardner's wedding picture (they were both Marines)

I had a minor meltdown when my diaper bag went missing. Both Andrew and I searched the church high and low for it but couldn't find it. We were prepared to give it up as lost and just leave without it when we ran into Andrew's Aunt Ann and family at the restaurant in Afton. Originally we were going to eat at Rulon's Burgers (he won the Olympic medal for wrestling a few years back, he's Andrew's dad's cousin or 2nd cousin or something like that) but Andrew's brother's decided that they didn't want a burger from the same place you pump gas. I had noticed the restaurant on our trip through Afton and suggested it as our alternative eating place. Everyone agreed and when we walked in who was sitting there waiting for their food but Andrew's Aunt Ann and family. I mentioned to her that I had lost my diaper bag and she said that the bishop had found it and asked her if she knew whose it was and she said no so he had locked it in his office for safe keeping. She happened to have his number so I called him up and he brought it to the restaurant where we were. I was SO relieved, my camera among other important necessities were in there. No pictures for this event either. :(

When we got back we were informed that it was a good time for us to be away because there had been a major nasty sickness that went around while we were gone. It took until the end of the month but we did get it. Poor Peter was SO sick I felt so bad for him, he got so upset when he threw up, he would try and run away from it, and then just when we thought he was feeling better, just in time for Josie's blessing (I'll do a separate post for that), he had a relapse and was worse. I'm grateful it was just a really nasty flu instead of RSV, croup or pneumonia all of which we knew several kids in our area that had all of those. Josie was lucky that she only had a bit of congestion for a while. Sometime in the mix of all of this my brother Reed announced that he and his girlfriend Audrey were engaged and going to be married in March in Las Vegas. We were SO excited to hear this for two reasons: #1 we LOVE Audrey and #2 Vegas is only an 8 hour drive from us so it would be easy for us to go to the wedding (also going to get its own post).

My poor sick Peter

Josie and Peter "playing" together

My cloth diaper babies

My cute Josie sporting her new winter gear

Peter's 1st Christmas

We decorated our house, inside and out.

My lovely "childproof" tree.

Aaron & Kjerstin's "childproof" tree all of the ornaments were moved out of Peter's reach.
We drove to Texas where it snowed on Christmas Eve and the snow was still on the ground Christmas morning. Peter didn't like the snow much.

We opened presents on Christmas morning.

The only present Peter really opened on his own wasn't his and it was a couple days before Christmas.
Some people get presents from Santa or their husbands. I get presents from Monkeys.
Peter got crayons and colored some paper for Grandpa Thatcher.

Our Trips to Utah, Wyoming and Washington... Finally!!!

So I'm finally blogging about the two road trips we took this summer. I made collages of the pictures I took and as I was making them I realized that most of the pictures I took were of Peter and I didn't take nearly as many of everything else that went on as I would have liked. C'est la vie.



We discovered that Peter does really well in the car, not that he does poorly in the car normally but I anticipated that he was going to be a lot more unhappy with the change in routine. The only time he really got upset was on the way to Thatcher, Idaho; we weren't at liberty to immediately stop and take care of him so he got cranky. Perhaps he did so well because we anticipated when he was going to be hungry or have a dirty diaper and tried to take care of it while we were stopped already, though that was not always the case.

Peter discovered pacifiers on our first trip and has been attached to them ever since. It's a blessing now but it has the potential to be a curse in the future. Who knows he may decide one day that he's had enough with pacifiers and just spit it out and never look back. Wishful thinking I know. :)

Trip to Utah & Wyoming

Andrew's Dad's side of the family had a "reunion" up in Afton, Wyoming over the 4th of July weekend. We had decided a few weeks before that we were actually going to go and then the Sunday before my Mom called and told me that my Grandma (my Dad's Mom) died earlier that morning. The funeral was that Thursday so Andrew arranged with work to leave a few days earlier so we could make it. It was really nice to see so much of my Dad's family; I'm seriously bummed that we didn't get any group pictures while we were all gathered together. I am also really sad that my Grandma didn't get to meet Peter. The funeral was in Layton, Utah and then we all drove up to Thatcher, Idaho, where my Grandpa grew up, so my Grandma could be buried next to Grandpa. My Dad's sisters wanted at least one kid from each family to participate so they had me say the closing prayer; that was probably the hardest thing I've had to do in a long time. I'm grateful that I was able to be at my Grandma's funeral, it really left a peaceful feeling in my heart. I am so thankful to know that I'll be able to see my Grandma again someday.

Friday we headed up to Afton to visit Andrew's grandparents. Andrew's grandpa was so cute! He saw Peter lying on the floor so he went over and picked him up and just held him in his lap. He did that a few times and one time we were just coming in to their house and Peter was in his car seat by the front door and Grandpa came and picked up the car seat and took it into the family room where everybody else was.

Saturday was the big "reunion." It turned out to be nothing more than a potluck lunch. Andrew was telling me about the last time there was a Gardner reunion in Afton and how there were hundreds of people and how the stores were competing to give them discounts. It turns out that 15 years ago there was a monument/memorial dedication for Archibald Gardner in Afton and it was a big deal & lots of people came out for it. He thought that this was going to be big like that... but it wasn't.

Peter didn't get to see any fireworks at all on the 4th. He was sleeping and my tummy was upset so we stayed in our motel room and listened to all the other people lighting up their fireworks.

Sunday we left Afton and decided that we would drive ALL the way home in one go. WOW that was a LONG drive. I think we left Afton around 9 am or so and we didn't get to our house until 3:30 am.

Car ride there

Eating on the road & hanging out with Grandpa Shayne and Aunt McKenzie

Hanging out with Great Grandma Ruth & Great Grandpa Scott and cousins

Car ride home

Trip to Washington

My mom's side of the family had a reunion August 8-10 so Andrew and I decided that we would go up to Washington early and visit. The drive, according to Google maps, is 25 hours from Sahuarita, AZ to Federal Way, WA and we did it in two days. Let me just say, that is A LOT of driving!! We decided to drive to Layton, UT as our halfway point and then continue on to WA from there because my dad has 3 sisters who live in Layton and they had a comfy/free place for us to sleep. It was really nice to visit with them, even though it had only been a month since we last saw them.

Once we made it to Washington we stayed at Andrew's brother, Jonathan's house where Peter got to meet 5 of his cousins for the first time. I can't believe how much they have grown in just one short year! They really liked having Peter to play with and to bring him toys. It was really cute how much they wanted to help. I was putting Peter down for a nap one day and he was crying because he was so tired and Archie (8) comes in with a very concerned look on his face and wants to know if he can help. He didn't like to hear Peter cry.

I had grand plans of visiting a lot more than we did but once we got there we ended up just being bums instead. Although Monday I got to go to lunch with Melisa, my good girlfriend from work, and then got to see the new office area (they were in the planning stages of moving when I left) which means I also got to see a lot of my old coworkers. Being in the position that I was, for nearly 3 years, I knew and helped practically everyone at the office, so it was nice to see so many faces again. Andrew wanted to visit/show off Peter to a few of his old coworkers too, so we stopped in Lynnwood on our way up to Whidbey Island and had lunch with two of Andrew's friends and then we went to Snohomish and visited his old boss.

We made it up to the island on Wednesday evening and hung out with my brother Reed and had yummy Chinese buffet for dinner. Reed introduced us to Rock Band on the Wii. That was a lot of fun, definitely a game to consider buying. I also got to hang out with my friend Kim. We had a nice long chat and she gave me a bunch of awesome clothes for Peter.

On Friday we got some super yummy donuts from our favorite place Henry's Donut and then headed out to go camping in the Cascade Mountains near Mt. Rainier. We stayed at a nice campground (Full-screenOhanapecosh) near a river and some very large trees. There was one tree, which I forgot to go back and take a picture of, that was 9.5' in diameter and was 900 years old! That afternoon & evening it was so cold that we left Peter in his pajamas and in addition put him in the sleep sack that I made to keep him warm. Luckily there was a super cute fleece hat in the clothes I got from Kim that we were able to keep Peter's head warm too. From the campground we went to Camp Zarahemla, a church owned campground, for the Lercher family reunion.

After the reunion we headed to Wenatchee, WA to visit the Bacons. They lived in our same apartment complex and thus were in our ward in Kent. They have a little girl, Hana, that is 3 months younger than Peter. It was really cute to watch them interact. At one point she was crying and laughing all at the same time at Peter. Unfortunately Chris had to work but we got to hang out with April. We went to a really nice park by the lake and saw a natural rock formation that looked like Abraham Lincoln's profile (kind of).

All in all it was a nice trip but Andrew thought that it was too long. There's really nothing better than sleeping in your own bed in your own home.

Hanging out with cousins at the beginning of the trip and hanging out with Hana at the end of the trip

Peter's first camping trip

Lercher family reunion

Baby Crack...

...is it good or bad?

This video is of Peter watching Baby Einstein

Peter is watching Baby Einstein Farm Animals. He only looked away from the TV when I moved closer to him.

Andrew's brother showed us the baby crack one day in Washington. He asked us if we wanted to see something funny and he turned on a Baby Einstein video and the then 2 year old Daniel comes running up and just stands staring at the TV. It was hilarious. He just stood there until it was over. I think Kaela who was 3 at the time came and stood and watched for a while too.

Also notice how well Peter sits up in the Bumbo. He's sat up on his own only a couple of times but he gets interested in something on the floor and doesn't stay sitting up.

Peter's 2 Month Appointment

Peter weighed in at a whopping 12.8 pounds and is 23.75 inches tall! My little boy has grown so much. The nurse calculated the percentages for the wrong age so I found a growth chart online and found the real percentages. He's 75% for both height and weight and he's 50% for head circumference. She calculated the percentages for a 6 week old instead of an 8 week old; her percentages were 85% for weight, 90% for height and 70% for head circumference.

***Addition*** I forgot to write about this funny story from Peter's doctor's appointment. The doctor had me hold Peter up so he was looking over my shoulder so he could look into Peter's eyes. Andrew says the doctor looked into the first eye just fine but when he tried to look into the other eye Peter wasn't going to have any of so he kept both of his eyes tightly shut. The doctor tried to get him to open the second eye for a minute or so and then just gave up.

Peter last Friday (2/20/2009).
The pants are too long and the onesie is now too short (they came together).
It seems Peter has the Gardner long torso and short legs.

Peter just chilling.
If he gets bored with aquarium mat and doesn't want to sit in the bouncy chair he hangs out on a blanket in the living room. He likes to watch the fan.

He was sleeping in a bassinet in our bedroom but a couple of weeks ago I noticed it was a tight squeeze for him; the inner length for the bassinet is 24". So he is happily sleeping in his crib at night and napping in his swing during the day. He has really responded well to his bedtime routine. He really likes taking a bath, though he cries until he's dressed and swaddled. It's amazing how alert he is for story time; he sits all swaddled in Andrew's lap while Andrew reads/makes up alterations to "Are You My Mother?" I really need to take video or pictures of it because it is so gosh darn cute!

Peter last month (1/21/2009)
He has since outgrown the hammock and loves to kick in the water. We normally have a washcloth to prevent him from peeing all over us. We are pretty quick learners. :)

He is so wiggly and loves to sit in the bouncy chair and kick his legs. Also when we lay him on his back he wiggles so much that he now changes position. I went to get him up the other day and instead of lying lengthwise with the long way of the crib he turned himself perpendicular so his head and feet were pointed at the rails. I didn't take a picture because it was early and he was crying to be fed. Next time I see that I will try to remember to take a picture.

Peter started out with his head where his left arm is (2/24/2009).

Peter has also half discovered his hands. I say half because they make it into his mouth a lot more than they did before but he still doesn't seem to realize that they're his. He doesn't look at them he just eats them. He also makes cute little fists a lot.

Peter munching on his hand (2/20/2009).

"Put up your dukes"

Peter will also take a bottle, of my milk, from both Andrew and me, though he doesn't like the more common straight bottle nipple he prefers the orthodontic shaped nipples instead. We've got a bunch of the ones he doesn't like; it figures! :) We are trying to give him a bottle a day to help make it easier for him to be babysat and later on weaned and it also makes car trips during eating time so much easier (if we anticipate eating during a car ride). We are working on a daytime routine so that when he wakes up he eats, then he's awake for a while and then he sleeps and then we start it all over again. It seems to be working well so far. He only really cries when he wakes up and if I'm too slow to feed him.

This is the first time Peter took a bottle (1/22/2009).

Peter now, and has for a couple of weeks, follows us by turning his head. I will lay him on the ground and will stand on one side of him and make sure he's watching me and then I'll walk around to his other side and he will follow me with his eyes then turn his head once I make it to the other side.

Andrew's job when he gets home is to do tummy time with Peter.

It is so awesome that Peter has a cousin close by to share clothes with. I got a bunch of Shaun David's old clothes for Peter to wear. I also got a bunch of boy clothes from lady at church and they were mostly too big for him right now, but luckily for SD they were just his size. So now they are clothes swapping cousins. It's nice that at this age their clothes stay nice enough to swap.

Peter wearing SD's old "engineer" shirt for church (2/22/2009).

Peter's Funny Cousins

I have a few funny stories from the past couple of weeks.

The first story actually has pictures.

So Tara, Jared & Eva and Tim, Megan & Shaun David all came down to our house on the 3rd partially to check out Peter and partially to celebrate a belated New Year, since our New Year was spent in the hospital. Anyway, we have a travel swing and bouncer seat that we are borrowing from Tara & Jared and Eva decided to use them as her personal loungers. She is 14 months and obviously too big for them but she didn't seem to notice. So the story isn't that funny but the pictures are.

We're not quite sure what's wrong with the swing, so we're not quite sure how to fix it.

She looks very comfortable in the bouncer.

The second story happened sometime last week while my mom was still here; don't expect me to remember which day. :)

It was the evening and my mom and I were watching TV and Andrew was playing one of his computer games when Andrew's phone rings. It was Archie, Andrew's nephew who will be 8 next month, calling because he just heard that we had a baby. So it turns out that when Archie heard the news he went and found his Mom's cell phone and decided to call and congratulate us, or something to that effect. Andrew turned his phone on to speaker so we could hear and I think Jonathan, Andrew's brother, ended up doing the same thing. All the kids wanted a chance to talk on the phone, even J.J. who will be 1 at the end of this month. Andrew was telling them all about Peter and they all thought it was hilarious when Andrew told them that Peter has green poop. They laughed so loud that the phone clipped.

The last story happened yesterday.

We were up at Tim & Megan's house to finish the liquid soap project that Megan & I started before Christmas. We were at the last step scenting and coloring the soap (the fun part). Andrew & Tim were invited to a co-worker's daughter's birthday party yesterday; Andrew, Peter & I went but Tim was working on fixing his Pathfinder so they didn't go. Anyway, we went back to Tim & Megan's after the party to finish up the soap. Right before we were about to go Peter got hungry so I sat down and was using Megan's Boppy and Shaun David, 9 months, saw me using his pillow to nurse Peter and he started making his hungry noises. So he got peaches & prunes. A little bit later Peter was hungry again and SD did the same thing when he saw me nursing Peter. Then right before we were leaving Peter was fussing and crying a bit and SD made a screeching crying noise that sounded just like Peter. A couple of times I looked at Peter to make sure he was okay just to realize that it was SD making the noise.

Only 65 Days Left Until...

Christmas!!! I bet you all thought that I was going to say until the baby comes, nope that's 70 days, only 2.5 months. It really is crazy how time flies. I'm feeling kind of like Costco right now. They have Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations out for sale right now but they're really gearing up for Christmas. :) I'm also feeling like a little kid again: counting down the days, wondering what I'm going to get, feeling like it's never going to come, wanting to make Christmas sugar cookies or at least get the premade dough and eat it (not that I was allowed, but I like cookie dough). :)

Andrew told me that some of his family are planning to go to Afton Wyoming for Christmas to visit his Dad's parents and that sounds like a lot of fun. But I'm not going anywhere anytime near Christmas, well except for the hospital that is. :) It's actually kind of weird not going to either of our parent's houses for Christmas, or Thanksgiving for that matter. I guess we were really spoiled living so close to both of our parents and extended family. Andrew says Christmas with just the two of us will be fun, I think it will be too. I'm just glad that we've already got our Christmas tree, with lights on it and everything. :)