Pete Pages

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Baby mine

When Liv was six days old, I was able to take her to a photo shoot with an old friend from my hometown. Lindsay is so talented (at just about everything imaginable) and thanks to her patience, she was able to get some great newborn shots. If you are interested in checking out Liv's gallery, go to: http://www.lindsaydanielphotography.com/
Click on [website] and then on clients on the bottom right hand side. The password is my first name.

I can't believe how much Liv has already changed! She is one month old today.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Blessed

Yesterday was Liv's baby blessing. It was a very special and emotional day for me. I was overwhelmed with feelings of love and gratitude for healthly children and a wonderful family, for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for good friends (just to name a few). We blessed Liv in our old ward and it hit me as I entered the room and saw so many sweet and smiling faces that we really are moving! Rob and I were also touched that so many family members were there to share the event with us. We will miss living so close to our great families! We were able to get a couple of quick shots of our crew prior to the blessing. These are the first photos of our family of SIX!

Liv was blessed in a dress that was made by her Grandma Maryana (who Liv is named after), which made it all the more special. I'm glad my folks were able to be at the blessing as they left today for their third LDS mission. Our family all gathered last night for a big and very yummy dinner to celebrate in Liv's honor. What more can I say? We are so blessed.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Birth"may" time

I'm not quite sure how we ended up with three of our four children being born in May...makes for a busy month. Burke turned 7 on the 13th! He requested dinner from Bajio (his very favorite and what he suggests that we eat every night) and donut holes and ice cream for dessert. It was nice not to have to make a special theme cake for the occasion (having just returned from the hospital). I find that my kids are usually just as happy with a "simplified" version of things. Burke is certainly getting older as he was quite particular about what he did and did not want for his b-day (he mostly wanted books) and was really excited about the Lego watch and Lego game that he received.

Tosh turned two on the 30th! Between soccer games that morning and Hewitt's preschool graduation in the afternoon, we celebrated by meeting cousins at the Farm at Thanksgiving Point. That evening we continued the party with pizza and cupcakes. I stole a friend's idea and did a little Elmo cake for Tosh (and smaller Elmo cupcakes for the other kids).

My sis-in-law got some great photos of Tosh while eating his cake:

Happy Birthday Burke and Tosh! We love you.

A boy and his baby sister

We're all having fun with a new baby in the house. Hewitt, in particular, is so enamored and thrilled to have a little sister. He is always checking on her, kissing her head, patting her back, etc. I love listening to him talk to her and the sweet little voice he gets when he says things like, "Hi baby girl," or "I love you, I love you, Liv!" The other night I put a nightgown on her and Hewitt asked where her pants were. When I told him that her jammies were like a nightgown or dress he excitedly said, "Oh, it's like her princess dress!?"

Every time he holds her he wants me to take a picture. Here are a few:

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

I got me some sugar and spice for Mother's Day

Well, she's finally here! This past Saturday was full of the usual events (soccer game, trip to the store, pizza for dinner...) although I was fairly determined that I wanted our weekend events to include "have a baby." After the kids went to bed on Saturday night I decided to start walking and did several trips around the block to encourage some baby action. By about 10:00 that night I was having fairly regular contractions and by midnight they were about 4 min. apart and getting quite intense so we decided after much debate to head to the hospital...

You would think by my 4th kid it would be easy for me to recognize when I'm really in labor. Hewitt came so quickly (born 30 minutes after we pulled into the hospital parking lot) that I've always been afraid of not making it in time. I was a little discouraged to say the least when we arrived at the hospital to learn that I was only at a 3 and 1/2 and the contractions had sort of died down! I had already summoned my support team of the Nurse Midwife and my doula (labor coach) who brought with her a cute girl who is in training to become a doula (two doulas for the price of one--fabulous). I was afraid that they were going to send me home, but as soon as I got out of bed and moving around the room, things picked up and the real *fun* began. Maybe my memory is bad or maybe my body is just getting older (both of these are true), but things seemed much more difficult this time around. I won't go into all the labor details, but the entire process seemed to take a lot longer than the actual 4 hours it took to get the baby here! They broke my water when I was about 8cm and we called my mom at that point who was able to make it to the hospital in time for the delivery. I should mention that with my team of women (4 total including the hospital nurse) supporting and coaching me along, this enabled Rob to spend about 70% of the labor SOUND ASLEEP on the couch. I couldn't believe what all he was able to sleep through. When they were about to break my water I had to repeat about five times, "Rob, it's time to wake up. Call my mom. Rob, get your cell phone out. Rob, let's go..." Finally I said, "Rob, the baby is here. It's a boy!" Still nothing. After the baby came I laughed when Rob said, "Wow. That seemed to go a lot better than the others." Yah, because you were asleep for most of it! I should note that my husband thinks that hiring a doula and paying the $400 (as it was in this case for her services) is well worth the money...and I agree. My friend Angie told me about this comic that was in the paper on Sunday morning and I find it quite fitting and funny:

Anyway, to get to the real point of this entry, the baby arrived on Sunday, May 10th at 4:23AM, weighing in at 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 19 inches long. She surprised us with strawberry blonde hair (emphasis on the strawberry) and in our opinion looks like a cross between Hewitt (coloring) and Tosh (features). We named her Liv Maryana which was a big surprise to my parents (my mom's name is Maryana) and we think she is pretty darn perfect. She has been such a great eater and sleeper and is so snuggly and sweet. All in all, the perfect Mother's Day gift.

Our boys have had coughs and so we've had to keep them away from Liv, although we did allow them to come to look at her for about 3 minutes. They were all absolutely ecstatic. Hewitt, asked to see her little feet and when I showed him he said, "Oh, they are so fresh!" I thought that was hilarious. Anyway, here are some more photos (the one of the boys is blurry, but you get the idea).

Monday, May 4, 2009

Adjustments

Well, we've moved. Last week was fairly crazy to say the least and I was happy to get through it without the baby coming. Hewitt has had the hardest time adjusting to the change it seems and when he cries to go "home" it makes me cry (I want to go "home" too!). The kids have had a hard time getting to sleep at night and are waking up an hour or so early every morning which makes for extra whiny and fussy kids (and an extra tired mom).

We had dinner last night with my parents and on our way home to Provo Hewitt said, "I don't want to live to Arizona. I don't want to live to Grandma and Grandpa Pete's house. I want to live in HOLLYWOOD!" (Note that Hewitt still mixes up his prepositions)...

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

"Tasha"

My friend Sara brought a darling little gift by for our baby yesterday. Tosh saw me open it and immediately started taking off his clothes, wanting to try it on. I've always thought that Tosh was a rather "pretty" boy, but I think this proves it...

Tosh running around in a pink dress did throw me off a little. The really funny thing was that he did not want me to take the dress off and every time I tried he would yell, "Noooo!" Burke laughed so hard about it when he got home from school; it only was when he started calling Tosh "Emma" and saying things like, "Come on little sister Emma..." that I insisted the dress come off.

Pete said...

Hewitt was just telling me about a new game he created where you can't touch the ball with your hands or feet. He said, "You can only hit the ball with your leg or foot-wrist." And so I clarified, "You mean your ankle?"
(10/8/09)

Me to Hewitt: Whatcha doin?
Hewitt: Arting. It's making art.
(10/2/09; Hewitt's 5th b-day)

Two jokes by Burke:
What does a storm wear?
Thunderwear!

What do you call King Kong's feet?
Big Foot!
(9/26/09)

I had the following conversation with Tosh:
Me: Are you a boy or a girl?
T: Boy
Me: Is Livvy a boy or a girl?
T: Baby
Me: Yes, but is Baby Liv a boy or a girl?
T: Girl
Me: Is Daddy a boy or a girl?
T: Big boy
Me: Is Mommy a boy or a girl?
T: Mommy a babe!
(Not prompted, I promise! 9/3/09)

Hewitt had set up a bunch of toy figures and Tosh was trying to play with them... Hewitt was telling Tosh not to touch them and I asked him to share the toys or to go and get some more figures for Tosh to play with. Hewitt said, "These are not toys! They are art!" (9/3/09)

We were driving along a road near our house (a rather quiet highway, really) and Hewitt suddenly exclaimed, "Mom! I just found the road to our old house! Keep driving straight!" I looked up and realized there were some big mountains in the FAR distance. Hewitt clearly thought he was staring at Utah. (8/28/09)

Hewitt brought home a little "Groundhog's Day" craft that he had made at preschool and kept calling the groundhog a bear. When I tried to tell him it was really a groundhog he looked at me like I was very silly and said, "It's a BEAR Mom, not a CORNDOG!" (2/2/09)

I explained to Burke about the recent airplane crash into the Hudson River and knowing that he would be very concerned, I quickly told him that all of the passengers were just fine. He looked at me with a worried look and said, "What about the birds? Are they okay?" (1/15/09)

I have a trunk full of old performing costumes from when I was a kid. Hewitt saw the trunk in the basement and told Rob that he wanted to open up the "treasure chest." Rob asked him if he knew what was in the trunk/chest and Hewitt replied that it was full of clothes. When Rob told Hewitt that he didn't want him to make a big mess Hewitt said, "I won't make a mess, I will just get out one clo." I guess that "clo" would be the singular form of clothes... (1/13/09)

Burke is always mentioning how he wants us to have lots more babies because he wants "hundreds" of brothers and sisters. I was explaining to him this morning about how it gets harder and more dangerous to have babies as a woman gets older...he looked at me and said, "Well, you look young Mom, like 19!" Then he leaned in closer and said, "Well, I do see some indents in your skin around your eyes (those would be wrinkles--thanks for noticing)." (12/26/08)

Hewitt blew his nose and must have accidentally gotten some snot or tissue in his mouth because he said, "Yuck! That tastes like cow dung!" (12/24/08)

Tosh got to Hewitt's cup of water at the table today and dumped it all over Hewitt's lap and onto the floor. Rob asked Hewitt, "Are you a little wet?" and he said, "I'm a BIG wet!" (12/24/08)

Rob was playing "Memory" with the boys and when Burke got a few matches in a row Hewitt said, "Wow Burkie, you're on fire!" (11/08)

We just bought some sod for our park strip and while Burke and I were looking at the pallet, I mentioned that some of the pieces looked like crabgrass and that we needed to find the best pieces of grass to buy. Burke looked at the sod for a little while and said, "None of it looks like crap grass to me!"

While I was flossing Burke's teeth he said, "Wait--I need to tell you something." I paused flossing and he said, "You sure know how to be a good mom!" (now there's a treasured compliment!)

Hewitt watched Rob kill a fly in our kitchen and then asked, "Did he cry? Did he want his mommy fly?"

I told Hewitt that I was going to get Tosh a snack and asked if he would like one. He paused and then said, "I'll take a milkshake." What am I, a drive-up window?

Hewitt was asking for toast today and when I pulled out the bread he said, "No, the 'letter O' toast!" I finally figured out that he wanted a toasted english muffin.

Burke came down for breakfast and said, "Mom, it might not look like my bed is made and you might not like it, but it's really stripes that I did as a design on my bed."

Hewitt has really liked eating plain tortillas lately. When I asked him if he wanted one he said, "Oh. Sure. I'll have a mamma mia."

Hewitt understands things very literally. When Rob told him that he "needed to fly" this morning (go to work), Hewitt asked, "Where is the fly? In the house?" When Rob asked him if he had a runny nose he said, "No. It's just boogers."

When Rob was leaving for work he hugged the boys and told them to "be good for Mommy and do exactly what she says." Burke said, "OK bye Dad, you be good at work and do exactly what your boss says."

We were discussing prophets in the scriptures for Family Home Evening and when Rob asked Burke which prophet(s) wrote the Book of Mormon Burke said, "Nephi, Jacob, Enos..." and continued to name the books in order. Rob and I were pretty surprised and couldn't help laughing.

I was just eavesdropping on Hewitt while he was playing with his toys and heard him say, "Ladies and jumpingmen..."

Burke was heading off to a neighbor's house to play and stuck his head back in the door and called, "I'll be traveling by bike."

When the garage door opens for us to drive in, Hewitt will pretend to be scared and say, "Oh no, it's the garage mouth! He's going to eat us!"

Hewitt got distracted and starting playing with his toys during lunch and when I reminded him to please keep eating he said, "But Mommy, I'm working."