Peter: Fourth Month

Above: This guy chubbed up fast!

Above: Look at this cute smile!

Above: Still covering his face with his blanket. It stresses me out, but he does it every time...and he pulls the blanket back over his face if I take it off!

Above: A binkie in the hand and one in the mouth. You've always got to have a backup!

Above: Tired looking mom, chubby looking guy! 

Above: Oh, he's so sweet and squishy!

Above: Look at that sweet face!

Above: Look at this happy guy!

Above: Look at this cute body!

Above: I love his little half-smile here. 

Above: I love this little outfit on Peter. So cute!

Above: So handsome!

Above: Note how I am covered by this little blanket (which I used as a burp cloth). This guy is the spit up king.

Above: He may spit up a lot, but what a cutie!

Above: Chubby cheeks!

Above: Our first trip up to Silver Lake.

Above: The snow was mostly melted, but spring hadn't quite arrived at the top of the mountains yet.

Above: Peter wasn't as impressed with the ducks as we were.

Above: Look at how little he is!

Above: Sweet smiles from my handsome guy.

Above: What a sweet face.

Above: Oh, he is so fatty! :)

Above: I love his sad face.

Above: Warming up to Grandpa Mackay.

Above: This guy is fun to cuddle in the mornings.

Above: Look at that sweet profile.

Above: He's a happy guy.

Above: He loves his daddy.

Above: Aunt Emily bought me this super cool Barf Vader shirt.

Above: I love these PJs on him.

Above: What a sweet sleepy guy.

New Perspectives

Peter used to absolutely hate tummy time. This was because he felt so powerless since he couldn't do a whole lot besides struggle to keep his face off of the floor. Now, however, Peter is able to hold himself up with his arms (and he can do it a lot higher off the floor than this picture shows).

The other day, Peter was propping himself up with his arms and trying to play with his froggy rattle at the same time. His new frustration is that he can't multi-task and prop himself up while simultaneously playing with his rattle the way he wants to. He actually does very well...but it's not what he wants. His goals are much grander than he can currently accomplish.

While I sat there watching him play, I thought about how much I loved him, how much stronger he was getting each day, how well he was handling his rattle while propping himself up and how he would be doing so much more before he even knew it. This current frustration of his will not be a frustration for too much longer. He'll progress and find new challenges he'll need to conquer. He makes me so proud each day with the new things he learns, accomplishes and overcomes.

Strangely enough, it made my mind flash back to one of my own memories...my first vocal recital. It wasn't really even a vocal recital. It was me singing at one of my piano recitals. At the time, I loved to sing...privately. I was only 12 and the thought of singing for anyone absolutely petrified me. The only reason I even did it was because my Mom bribed me with a Phantom of the Opera book (which contained the play libretto) which I desperately wanted.

I remember standing up there, shaking in fear and faintly squeeking out my song ("Beauty and the Beast"). Oh, and I realize that I am definitely dating myself with the Phantom and Beauty and the Beast references. I doubt if anyone past the first row heard me at all for how quietly I sang. At the time, I thought that was a good thing. I was bitterly disappointed in my performance. I remember holding back the tears until I got home. I was so afraid while I was singing and afterward, I was so frustrated that I hadn't done better. All I could think of was what I did wrong here and how I messed up there. Looking back, I think I did pretty well considering the circumstances and while I sang quite well for a 12 year old, I still had an awful lot to learn about singing at that point.

But the great thing about looking back is that it compresses time. Looking forward often seems so daunting because you look at years and years of voice lessons and hours and hours of practice within those years in order to accomplish ones' goals. But looking back gives you perspective. I could think about all of the lessons and hours of practice, but they didn't seem so looooooong. It's more like looking at things in fast motion. You can see much more in one glance when you look back. Through the lessons and practice, I was able to conquer my fears of vocal recitals and singing in public. I have also learned an awful lot about singing over that time.

Now, what do these two things (my experience compared to Peter's) have to do with one another? After my mind flashed back to my first vocal recital while I was watching Peter play with his rattle, it occurred to me that during my recital, Heavenly Father was probably watching me the same way I was currently watching my baby Peter. I'm sure He was watching me and thinking about how much He loved me. I'm sure He was proud of me for going out of my comfort zone. I'm sure He was pleased with how well I did for how much I knew at the time. Finally, I know that He, with His infinite wisdom and perspective, knew that I would conquer those fears and perfect my voice to such an extent that it would be a source of joy to me and a tool to serve Him by singing for others.

My eyes teared up as I realized this. I felt so loved by my Heavenly Father. It is amazing that through my stewardship of this sweet little human being that the Lord would find even more ways to show His love for me. Everything on this earth is only a shadow of what is to come later. The love and pride I felt for Peter was just a small sampling of the love and pride that the Lord feels for me, for Peter and for each of us.

Smiles...It's All About the Teamwork

Peter smiles all the time. In fact, he showed me his first real smiles when he was only 1 month and 1 day old (3 big smiles at 3 a.m.). But as I was looking through my pictures I realized how few I had of Peter smiling because of how rare it is to actually capture those smiles with a digital camera. My camera does a pre-picture flash for some reason in addition to a flash at the time the picture actually gets taken. The first flash always distracts Peter and his smile is gone before the picture gets taken. Thank goodness I have documentation on our video camera because I would be so sad if I had no record of those first early smiles.

So, I must thank Bri for taking this picture with his I-Phone. It made me realize that if I want to get pictures of my smiley guy in the act of smiling, it will take teamwork.

Since then, I have had a lot of success in capturing Peter's adorable smiles with my digital camera. All it takes is one person to make Peter smile and another person to take the picture (with the camera out of Peter's line of sight!). So, thanks again Bri! As a result, I'm sure there will be many more smiley pictures to come!

Baby Blessing

Peter had his baby blessing on the last Sunday in April. I took so long to update it here because we forgot to take a picture of him in his blessing outfit (lovingly and skillfully sewn by my mom). Then, of course, it only took us a week to take a picture of him in the baby blessing outfit, but I have only just now uploaded the pictures of him in it.

I was quite nervous that day because it was the first day that we had taken Peter to church. He was so cranky because he didn't get a long enough morning nap and he cried all the way to church. We got him settled down enough for us to take him in (we were late, of course...luckily we didn't miss our own blessing!). However, as soon as we sat down, he started crying. It was his cute little hiccupy/squeeky cry...and of course everyone looked at us and smiled. Jeremiah took him out and got him settled.

Peter was very good during the blessing. He only started crying at the very end because his binky fell out (despite the efforts of Casey and Jabe who both tried to catch it and replace it). As soon as the blessing was over, Jeremiah held him up for the congregation to see (hiccupy cry and all). Everyone "ahhhhhhhhed" and that got Peter's attention. He immediately stopped crying and looked around at everyone to see what was up. We sure love that sweet guy!

Peter was blessed to have a love of the gospel and a desire to share it with others. He was blessed to have a desire to come to know Heavenly Father and Jesus and want to become like them. He was blessed to be a good big brother (no, I'm not pregnant, but we are planning on having more). He was blessed to be a beacon to others around him.

I sing "We'll Bring the World His Truth" aka "Army of Helaman" to Peter every night before he goes to bed. He is so cute when I sing to him. He is usually quite cranky when he is sleepy, but as soon as I start singing, he calms down immediately and smiles at me through his binky while he looks up at me with his big, bright eyes. The first few times I sang to him, he woke up completely and he was so alert that I thought "this won't help him get to sleep at all." But now he usually falls asleep in the middle of the second or third verse.

I am so grateful to be blessed with this little guy. What an honor to have the opportunity to be a steward over him. I am so grateful for the gospel and that Peter was born in the covenant. I love spending each day with him. It is so fun to see him grow and progress each day. He has such a cute personality! I can't wait to get to know him better and better!

Among the Tulips...and Scheduling Issues

We took our little guy to Thanksgiving Point the other day to the Tulip Festival. Due to certain timing issues, the expedition took place during his morning nap. He got two little catnaps on the drive down and the drive back that helped to make up for it a little bit. He did very well and seemed pretty interested (he loves being outside), but he did not want to ride in his stroller for very long. It was a little chilly (I forgot to bring a sweater, so Jeremiah let me use his sweatshirt) but Peter didn't mind and it gave us an opportunity to put him in his cute little hooded sweatshirt that my Mom bought for him. We did pay later in the day for Peter's lack of a morning nap though! He had a rough afternoon! It's such a fine line. It's good to get Peter out of the house and give him other experiences, but at the same time, if you mess with his naptimes, there is a price to pay later on!

This is why Sundays are such an adventure. It doesn't matter what time church is at--each of the scheduled times mess with either a naptime or a feeding. We have church at eleven, so Sacrament Meeting happens smack dab in the middle of Peter's morning nap and it also conflicts with his lunch time at noon. Sundays are just tough for little kids.

This past Sunday was the first day that we took Peter to all three hours of church. He was blessed the Sunday before that, but we only took him to Sacrament Meeting that day. It is going to be an adjustment, that's for sure. I had to take him out of the meeting three different times. I probably only spent about 20 minutes, tops, in the chapel. Also, I don't know what it is about prayers that makes Peter want to start crying! The back row was filled with sweet older widows who kept smiling at me every time I had to take Peter out. According to Jeremiah, I blushed every single time. I'm just not used to half of the chapel staring at me each time I leave! I don't remember very much of what anybody said at the pulpit either!

Oh yes, Sundays are going to be an adventure for the next 10-20 years!

Peter: Third Month

Above: Look at this big boy!

Above: This picture flipped, but look at this sweet face!

Above: Again, another picture that flipped, but here you get a glimpse of Peter's very expressive eyebrows.

Above: Another picture that flipped, darn it! But look at how sweetly this little guy is when he sleeps.

Above: Sleepy baby and sleep-deprived Daddy.

Above: Zzzzzzz.

Above: So big!

When Peter was 3 months old, Jeremiah got laid off (hard times for the economy) and we had to move into the basement at Jeremiah's parent's house. During this time, Jeremiah went back to school for his masters. Thus began a three year adventure of living with the in-laws.

Above: This guy loves to sleep with his little puppy.

Above: This guy has such great expressions!

Above: He loves his daddy!

Above: Good snuggle time!

Above: Peter loves hanging out in his exersaucer.

Above: Another picture that flipped...but look at that belly!

Above: Peter does this to himself. He likes to have his face covered while he sleeps. It kind of freaks me out a bit, so I check on him to make sure he is still breathing a lot, but he loves it! The only way for him to sleep!

Above: When Peter was three months old, we had his baby blessing.

Above: What a cute outfit Nammy made!

Above: Look at that belly!

Above: Good job, Nammy! What a cute blessing outfit.

Above: Look at that cute guy! He loves to stand!

Above: Such a sad, sad face!