24th of July

Jared had the 24th off so it was fun to spend the day with him. We went to the parade that morning.

I LOVE the old firetrucks. Crue did a lot better with the firetrucks at this parade. I think he could see them coming and we acted all excited before they got close and really loud.

Kyle would run out with Crue and help him get candy when they were throwing it.

On the way back to the parking garage we passed a splash pad (not anything like the ones in St. George or the Mesa area in AZ) so I let Crue go have some fun. I swear he would live in water if we let him!

Cooper enjoyed the parade.

That night we went to Tyson and Rachael's house for a BBQ and then some fireworks. Crue burned himself with a sparkler but he was so good about it. He didn't cry at all. I only knew about it because Loni told me (she had been with him while Jared was lighting off the bigger fireworks and I had moved to the garage so it wasn't so loud for Cooper) and you can see where he burned himself. It was a fun party. We had a great time!

Jared got this pit bike for free and he's had a lot of fun with it. Lately Crue has been scared of it. He would scream and cry every time Jared started it up or we tried to put him on it. The funny thing is Crue likes riding the Magna. We figured it must be because the pit bike is loud. One day he decided he wanted to ride it and now he likes to ride it every time he sees it. This was the first time he rode it with Jared (or one of the first times). They're in Tyson and Rachael's back yard. It's funny because when Jared takes him for rides on either the pit bike or the Magna Crue reaches up and grabs Jared's shirt by his armpits to hang out (you can see it in the bottom picture).

Blessing

Jared gave Cooper a beautiful blessing. We had lots of family and friends there to support us. My entire family was there, Jared's entire family (except his sister, Beka, and her family that live in Washington state), my cousin Caleb and his sister Caitlin and her daughter Scotlyn, Tyson and Rachael, Kevin and Rachel and Chloe and Jeremy and Rebecca and their kids.

Crue had been eating the olives and other veggies my mom was putting out and did not want to come for a family picture. We're lucky we got one with him looking at the camera.Cooper was too small for Crue's blessing outfit so we were going to use the one that my brother, Kyle, wore for his blessing. He ended up chunking out by the time we blessed him so although it was still a little big, he was able to wear the same blessing outfit as Crue.

Caitlin's little girl, Scotlyn. She is so cute!

Crue and his cousin Dylan.

Crue and Aunt Molly.

Grandma Peterson and Cooper.

Four generations - Grandma Spendlove, Grandma Peterson, Jared and Cooper. Grandma Peterson wasn't there so we weren't able to get a four generation picture of the Peterson side.

Our cute boys

There's nothing cuter than little boys in just their diapers!



My dad was loving holding both his grandsons (Crue wasn't feeling well that night so he let us hold him).

Fourth of July

Unfortunately Jared had to work on the fourth of July (although he did get paid time and a half so that's good). That morning I took the boys to the parade and my parents, Loni, and Kelci met us there. My friend Rachel joined us when she got there with her daughter Chloe and her mother.

The fire engines all had sirens going and kept blaring their horns. It scared Crue enough that he was crying. Being the mean mom that I am, I laughed. We saw our friends Lowell and Katie in one of the firetrucks (Lowell is a firefighter so he drove one of the trucks).

I love old trucks so I got a picture of this one.

Last year Crue was scared of sparklers but this year he loved them. I pretty much had to stand there with him the entire time though because would almost burn himself or others.

Mom and Crue watching the fireworks at the Sessions house. We went there for a BBQ with awesome food and great fireworks after. Jared's parents were there too so they were excited to see the boys. While we were eating there was a gutter on the edge of the house by us that didn't go all the way to the ground and had a little bit of water coming out of it. What does Crue think? It's water like at grandma and grandpa's house so he starts playing in it and then I look over (I had been telling him to get away from it since it was obviously not clean water) and he was trying to drink it! I got him away from it after that. It was funny. It was a really fun day but we sure missed daddy!

How to survive St. George

We went to load up our truck and a friend's trailer with the stuff from Jared's parents' house that we are storing in our house. It was really hot, considering it was July in St. George. I had been in the house most of the time doing stuff while Jared was in the garage loading what we took out to him and the others that were helping. Crue played in the back with his cousins. When we were done Crue was dripping with sweat! He was so hot so we took his clothes off and Sandra turned on the water faucet on the back of the house. Crue was in heaven!

He figured out how to drink the water.

Look at the smile on that cute face!

50th Birthday

My cousin, Travis, and his wife and two kids were staying with my parents on their way up to Idaho and N. Utah for family reunions. They were leaving on my mom's birthday so we had a surprise party for her at the park the day before when they got to town.

The birthday girl.

Crue having fun playing with the kids. Kate, my cousin's daughter (Tamara's), had been kissing Crue and giving him kisses right before I got this picture. It was so cute!

Cute stinker

I realized I sounded like I can't stand Crue in my last post. I figured I'd better say that I absolutely LOVE him, but just like every parent probably understands, he can definitely drive me crazy. I'm sure it's just the terrible two stage, and getting a new baby that I have to be with a lot more instead of being able to play with him. He really is the cutest little boy in the world and I am so grateful to have him in my life.

I had the camera out the other day and he wanted me to take some pictures of him. Here he is with his "big smile" that he has recently started doing when you take a picture of him. He's so cute!!

Here's one more with Crue giving Cooper a kiss (which he LOVES to do).

*I will post pictures soon from when Cooper was born. Things are still just a little crazy around here (it doesn't help that I was planning on cleaning, doing laundry, and getting things ready on Saturday before Cooper was born and instead ended up having him Friday and not getting home until Saturday).

It's only the beginning....

On Wednesday I put Cooper on my bed and went to the bathroom real quick. Crue was playing in the family room by Loni and I didn't think anything of it. All of a sudden I hear both boys crying and remembered that Cooper was on the bed (where I could hear them both crying). I ran into my room and Cooper was now on the floor and Crue was getting up off the floor. Somehow Crue managed to get Cooper on the floor (luckily he was face up but somehow his feet were under the bed) and I think it scared him. Once I picked up Cooper (after screaming "Crue!") and he was ok I handed him to Loni who had also come running in and held Crue for a minute. I think he was just as scared as I was. When I went running in there he was crying and shaking. Poor boy. Luckily they're both ok. Unfortunately, it's only the beginning of more to come I'm sure. Today Cooper was on a bed in another room and I took something in my room and then went back in the room he was in (the rooms are right by each other). Crue was trying to get up on the bed right where Cooper was. He LOVES to kiss Cooper so I'm sure he was either trying to kiss him or wanted to be on the bed so he could hold him. If I hadn't been fast, I'm sure we would have had both boys on the floor again. This is definitely going to be an adventure!

I have to say the hardest part about having a newborn is his 21 month old brother. Crue has gotten into the bad habit of not listening to me when I tell him no or not to do something until I get up to spank him, and then he starts running. I get so frustrated with him and have thrown him in his crib (without his binkie) and slammed his door so many times. He used to be really good. I could ask him to pick up his toys or help me pick up the blocks and he would do it. Now he'll just throw the toys or go start playing with another toy. Anyone have any suggestions? Or is this just a phase every kid goes through and I have to just patiently wait it out? Hopefully it ends soon - I miss my cute little boy that was so good most of the time and so fun to be with!

Hospital Pictures

*Hospital Pictures*

These were taken when he was only a few minutes old. My mom was the only one at the hospital when he was born. Everyone else came Friday after a good night's sleep.



Here's the ones that came that day:

Jared stayed that night obviously but I thought it was a cute father-son picture.

Aunt Kelci

Big Brother Crue

Aunt Loni

Uncle Kyle and Crue

Grandma Little with her two grandsons (they are the first grandkids on my side so you can imagine how spoiled they are:))

Grandpa Peterson

Rachael, Crue, and Grandma Peterson

The story

(Warning! It's long - for journal purposes)

Thursday (June 11) we went to my last doctor's appointment before I was scheduled to be induced on Monday. They did a non-stress test because I was over 41 weeks. The baby's heart rate wasn't doing something they were looking for, possibly because he was sleeping. Dr. Sanders came in after a while to talk to us and showed us on the chart where there was a slight bump in my contraction line (it went under instead of up like a mountain) and said that where that was and with what the baby's heart rate had done right around that point made them worry that my placenta was starting to calcify from being old. If it calcifies, then not as much oxygen will reach the baby and he didn't want us to have a still birth Monday when they start me. My doctor and his office were going on a trip that weekend and he didn't want to have to worry about me all weekend. He asked us to go home and get our stuff, eat (I could only eat a little if I wanted to), makes calls if we needed to, and then head over to the hospital. I also had Jared give me a blessing before we left. We got to the hospital at 9 pm and he was there waiting for us. After getting changed the nurse came in to get my iv going. I had tested positive for Strep B so they had to give me two doses of antibiotics, 4 hours apart. The nurse tried the first time in my right arm. She had to move around a little trying to get the needle to thread. I started getting light headed and finally she pulled it out. I asked her about numbing it first (they had done that with Crue) so she tried on my other arm and numbed it first. She still couldn't get it in. She called for another nurse and then started trying again. The other nurse came in as the one was trying a third spot. She still couldn't get it so the second nurse put heat packs on my arm to try to get my veins to do better. After a while she came back and tried again. She ended up digging around for a while again but luckily this time I was numb. She finally was able to get it in. I now have 3 bruises from the first three tries. I felt bad for the first nurse, Krista, because she felt so bad and was having the hardest time (she said she's been a nurse for 9 years). The cool thing was the second nurse was Natalie, who was my nurse when Crue was born (I think she was new then) and I was in the same delivery room that I had Crue in. The 3rd nurse, Megan (who was my actual nurse - the other two were just helping) started the Pitocin about the time the first bag of antibiotics was empty. I had been having a few contractions that weren't too bad. It was mostly pressure, not pain. I have had them before and they only last that night and then go away. When I got to the hospital (and they started the Pit) I was dilated to a 5. After the Pitocin kicked in my contractions weren't measuring near as strong on the machine but they sure hurt a lot more. I was going to see if I could deliver without an epidural (basically hold off until I couldn't handle it anymore) because we don't have insurance and the one I had with Crue cost about $1000. My first contraction happened around 11:30 pm. After going to the bathroom around midnight I decided I'd better ask for my epidural because my contractions were getting pretty bad. Megan called for the anethesiologist and I was now doing what I could to make it through the contractions. After a little while I wasn't getting a break between contractions. I could feel the pain in my pelvic area still (a lot of it would go away but not all of it) and knew that another one was about to hit. I asked about the anethesiologist and she told me that he was on his way (she went and checked one of the times). She turned the Pitocin down since I was not getting a break. Shortly after that I felt like I needed to push a little with the contractions. I told Megan and she checked me. I was at a 7. That was when she went to check on the anethesiologist so I could get an epidural before I got to an 8. She turned the Pitocin off at that point. I think she recorded it and walked out. All of a sudden I really felt like pushing and started saying it - loud enough that the nurses could hear. Krista came in (it had been maybe 10 seconds since Megan had left) to check me and I told her Megan just barely checked me and I was a 7. She started to check me while my contraction was about over and I told her I was getting another one. She pulled her hand away and all of a sudden my water breaks. The baby is now crowning and I am unable to stop my body from pushing. She yells for Megan and all three of them are back in the room. They call my doctor (who was at home at the other end of town) and the respitory therapist and are doing everything they can to help me. They had me roll on my left side and for the first time I would feel a break between my contractions. Natalie was by my head talking me through it (like last time), Krista (I think) was holding the baby in until the doctor got there, and Megan was getting other things ready. I heard someone in the hall ask if we needed the anethesiologist and I jokingly said that he was too slow (I think they thought I was mad at him because I couldn't joke very well while in pain). I had gone from a 7 to water breaking, crowning and pushing in 30-45 seconds (not exaggerating). Doctor Sanders called and said he was in the parking lot so they rolled me on my back and he came running in. After about 3 good pushes, the baby came out. It was 12:51 am. I had been in labor for about an hour and a half. They didn't have time to get the bed apart or anything. It was crazy. It was so good though. I would definitely do it again without an epidural if it went that fast or faster. It was a lot of pain but I made it through, and I healed a lot faster. Two hours later I was able to walk over to the recovery room. Later Jared and I were talking about it and Heavenly Father was definitely there helping me. I went really fast which was good considering I didn't have an epidural. Cooper was a lot smaller than Crue (1 lb. 1 oz. smaller) and had a much smaller head, which was good since Crue had gotten stuck on my tailbone. When my water broke, Cooper's head was already past my tailbone so I didn't have to worry about him getting stuck. I think the fluid helped him over my tailbone. With his head being a lot smaller and him just being smaller overall, I didn't tear which was really nice. The doctor told me I just had some scratches. I was especially glad about that since I wasn't numb and was worried about stitches. Also, since we were worried about money, it was sure nice to know that the anethesiologist didn't get there in time so we won't have that expense. It was a really great experience and I'm so grateful for how everything went and for Heavenly Father's help through it all. There were so many times I didn't think I could do it, even though I really had no choice. And most of all I'm grateful for Jared. I felt so bad for how hard I was squeezing his hand but he said it was ok. After Cooper came out Jared was crying and Doctor Sanders asked if dad wanted to cut the cord. He said "If I can see through the tears!". Later he told me he had started crying because of how much pain I was in (I was yelling to get him out of me) and then they were tears of joy when he saw Cooper born. I have the most amazing husband, even though he doesn't believe me. I love seeing him be a dad to our boys. It makes me fall that much more in love with him when I see him playing with Crue or when he's holding Cooper. I love him so much! Plus, he gave us some really, really cute boys. :)

He's here!

I'll post the story later when I have some more time but I just wanted to say that he's here and we're all doing great. Crue has been having a blast hanging out with my parents and my sister (getting spoiled I'm sure) while we've been in the hospital. We just got home today. Here's a picture for you of Cooper and one of our family at the hospital.

Cooper West Peterson

June 12, 2009 12:58 am
8 lbs 5 oz 20.5 inches

Mean doctor

So my doctor isn't really mean. In fact, we really like going to him (yes, I make Jared go with me to all the pregnancy appointments). Yesterday I had another appointment and he asked about stripping my membranes. We were planning on asking him to do it so we said yes. I remember being scared to do it with Crue because almost everyone said it hurt so bad but it didn't really hurt and I was fine afterward (once I got some water). This time though, holy cow it was not so good! It didn't hurt really bad, like say a bad cut would, but it was sure some really uncomfortable pain!! Jared told me after that I did really good and I told him I held my breath through a lot of it because it was not fun. Then my doctor had me stick around and do a non-stress test and get an ultrasound to make sure there was enough fluid. He usually starts that at 41 weeks (which I am today) and you have to do it twice a week. So I'm scheduled to go back Thursday. I probably won't post about that appointment because there's not much to post anymore, especially since I just went yesterday. When the girl was doing the ultrasound she was using the small machine that can go from room to room instead of the nice one that they can project on the wall (that they use for the other ultrasounds) and the computer was turned just enough so I couldn't see it but I think Jared could. She asked if we knew what we were having and I said a boy. She said he was really showing it off. It was pretty funny. So look forward to the next post being about the baby getting here!

You might be a redneck if....

....you mow your lawn and find a vehicle. So I guess even though we didn't really mow our lawn but do have weeds like crazy and a torn apart vehicle in our yard, we must be rednecks. :)
My uncle took what he wanted off their suburban and then gave it to Jared so he could use parts off of it for his '86 Blazer he's been working on for rock crawling. He got the Blazer for really cheap and it's not the best condition so he's not worried about dinging it or scratching the paint or anything while he's four-wheeling/rock crawling. Plus the wheels and tires could be sold for more than he paid for the Blazer so that was worth it right there! Jared has sold some of the stuff off the suburban that he doesn't need and has already made more than it cost him to get it here so that's been good. He has gotten a lot off the suburban for his Blazer and that has been a great help. If Jared can just sell the tires and wheels off the Blazer (know anyone that wants them?) then he can buy the tires and wheels he wants/needs and then get those, the ball joints, steering linkage, and park brake all on/fixed then it will be street legal and good to go for rock crawling. He has to sell the tires and wheels because they're six lugs and he's putting different axles on that are eight lugs. I'm so glad it's almost done so we can take it out and have some fun in it now that it's warmer (it's hard to go in the snow).

By the way, my uncle is an awesome artist. He takes car parts and driftwood and turns them into amazing things. You can check out his blog here and see all the things he's made. (It's also listed in my blog lists under Tim Little's Fine Art.) If you're in Salt Lake I think he's got stuff in shows there and I know there's something about posts downtown that artists get to put stuff on top of and he was one of the ones selected so you can see them there. The shows he has stuff in is listed on his blog. If any of you have parts he can have, let me know. He's always looking for stuff from engines.

Sprouts!

Yes, we have sprouts! It's amazing! We are so excited. Everything has some sprouts except for the potatoes and two more rows of corn that we planted on Monday. We also got my tomatoes planted but they are plants, not seeds, so of course they're the biggest things out there. We've only had two of the circles with sprouts so hopefully the others are just taking their time. The ones that have sprouted are Montana Jack (a pumpkin) and another pumpkin that are supposed to be the big competition size ones. I'm excited. Here's some pictures of our sprouts. This first one shows most of the stuff that's in the rows. You can't see all of the sprouts because some are little but from the very top of the picture to where I'm standing there are carrots, yellow onions, green onions, beans, and then peas.

These are the beans and peas.

And here's the corn! I'm so excited for corn. I LOVE fresh corn. And I'm really excited to be able to bottle a lot of this so that we can have it all year long (and have some good food storage).

This is the Montana Jack - it was the first in the circles to sprout.
These are the large competition size pumpkins.

I'll post more pictures once we start getting veggies. One of the tomato plants has a little tomato growing on it so I'm excited for that. We have 5 Big Beef tomatoes (I think that's what they're called) and 2 Sun tomatoes (one of those has the tomato growing) and 7 grape tomatoes. Crue LOVES grape tomatoes so I figured it would be better to plant them ourselves and he can have them to eat whenever he wants instead of spending tons of money on the ones at the store.

Haircuts

Both Jared and Crue have been in need of a haircut. I cut Jared's all the time so that was no big deal. My sister-in-law, Molly, cut Crue's hair last time and showed me what to do so I could do it. I've tried a couple of times when he was younger but it was hard and I didn't know what to do - I've watched Jared's mom cut his hair so I knew what to do when I started cutting his. We hoped that if Crue watched Jared get his hair cut and then had Jared hold him, he might do good. It definitely helped but after a while he was ready to be done. I got it done and it looked pretty good. I was impressed. :) I took a picture and he loved smiling for me. It was so cute. Here's my little boy with his new hair cut. There was sure a lot of hair to cut off!

Another doctor visit...

I'm still a good 3 1/2 and he said my cervix is really good. He was really surprised at how patient I am - he's got some women that are ready to beat him if he doesn't get the baby out of them, especially if they go past their due date! He told Jared he has a really patient wife and it was even better when Jared said the same thing later. I have another appointment Monday night and we're thinking we'll probably ask him to strip my membranes then. It didn't work with Crue but we're hoping it'll work this time.

Where are my contractions?!

We went to the doctor (again) last night. He said I'm a good 3 1/2 almost a 4 and that my cervix is really good. Once I have contractions, I'll do great. He told me I need to get out and do stuff. Problem is, it doesn't work! After doing a lot of work when we went camping, I still haven't had contractions. With Crue, I tried walking (even pushing a stroller with a 18 month old up and down hills on a 3 mile walk), and a bunch of other things. I think we're going to see about a four-wheeler ride this time. That's the only thing we didn't try with Crue that might work. If not, at least I get to have fun trying! :) I'm hoping to wait until Monday anyway. Then it would be June and my awesome neighbor, Jessica, will be working that night in the OB so she could be my nurse! I guess the next update will either be when the baby comes, or after my appointment next Wednesday.

Crue's new ride

My mom found this four-wheeler on clearance at Cal Ranch. It comes with a SWAT guy and a gun. I think the gun got lost in the toy bucket but Crue has fun putting the guy's helmet on. He calls it a "hat". He points at Jared's helmet and calls it a hat too. Yesterday Crue decided to start riding the four-wheeler. It was hilarious! He sat on it and just used his legs to move. I got a video but it was at the end of when he was riding so it wasn't very good but you get the idea. The picture shows how small the four-wheeler is compared to him.
I have a feeling we'll have to be getting him a four-wheeler someday:) He sure loves anything with wheels! (Not much of a shock coming from our family.)

Memorial Day Camping

I was excited to get one more camping trip in before the baby comes. Not that we won't go camping again this summer but it'll be a little harder with two kids (one being fairly new) than it is with one. We went to Oak Grove - my favorite place - and had a lot of fun. Jeremy and Molly and their kids were there the entire time (Jared's brother). Molly's sister, Amanda, and her husband were there but left Saturday. Molly's sister, Erin, left Sunday, and her other sister, Jen, came for Saturday night only. We just hung out Saturday and played a few games or hung out around the fire. It was overcast and cool but it felt good. That night a storm came and it about blew away a screen house (it was staked in but the wind pulled a few stakes out) and it pulled one of our tent stakes out. It rained too - thank goodness for awnings and trees. Jared's parents joined us for dinner Saturday night. Molly's friend joined us on Sunday. A few people went hiking Sunday and for dinner we had Jared's parents, my entire family, Molly's dad, and Jen's husband. Jared and I were in charge (luckily we had lots of help) and we did Jared's famous dutch oven bbq chicken and potatoes and I did two kinds of cobbler. Six dutch ovens at once! We had both camp chefs set up and I used charcoal for the cobblers. It was SO good!
I only got one picture the entire time though - how terrible am I! We had gotten some pallets from my brother-in-law. Jared's brother had talked to the camp host and he remembered us from last year. That was good because he didn't care that we had more cars and people than were allowed per site (he said he remembered us being quiet so we were ok). He said he knows that old pallets need to be burned but he hates the nails that always end up where they shouldn't be so Jared tore the pallets all apart and the kids helped put the nails into soda cans to throw away. On Saturday Crue "helped" Jared take some pallets apart. He was helping to hold a pallet while Jared hammered on it and then later he was sitting on the edge of the cement with the can and helping to put the nails away in it. When I went to get the picture of him sitting on the cement he stood up so I didn't get it but the one below is of him "helping" hold the pallet so Jared can break it apart. I love seeing those two together - it's so cute!