Random

I started watching kids again last week. I always have them take their naps at 1 pm, right after lunch. That's when I get my break. The other day I noticed Crue had fallen asleep on the chair and a half before lunch. Then I looked at Halee, one of the girls I watch, and noticed she was pretty tired. Sure enough, a minute or two later she was out too - both leaning the opposite direction. It was hilarious.

When we go to my parent's house Crue usually does one of two things - he heads straight for the toy room or he'll get on the trampoline out back. He loves to "crash" (fall over) and jump. It's so cute.

Gotta love static hair!

Two Months

I can't believe it's been two months already - and how big he's getting.

Look at those big cheeks! They're so dang cute, especially when he smiles really big. I just love my little boy!

Check out those big legs! He's actually not extremely chubby (as in roll after roll after roll). He's about as long as he is tall, percentage wise.

I took Cooper to the doctor on August 14 because he's had a terrible cough that sounded congested plus a runny nose sometimes and sneezing. Loni, my sister that had been living with us, found out she had bronchitis so I figured I'd better take him to the doctor to make sure he didn't have anything major. They quickly weighed him and he was at 15 lbs 7 oz (with a onesie and diaper still on). Luckily he was ok and the next day he started sounding lots better. He had been gagging before from coughing so hard. They used a machine to vacuum out the mucus in his nose. He had a TON. He hated it, poor kid. He cried more for that than his shots. I took him on August 21 for his regular two month check up. Here's his stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 12 oz 98%
Height: 25 1/4 inches 97%
Head: 16 3/4 inches 94%

Cooper started smiling and talking a lot this month (especially to mom - I love it!!). He's been such a fun baby. He does like to scream sometimes but that comes with the territory. His smiling sure makes up for it. We love you Cooper!!!

Jared's new ride

Jared got this Blazer for $300 a while ago. The kid that owned it before had gotten it impounded for DUI but then came and got it out of the impound yard at Jared's work. Not too long after that it got impounded again for the same thing but this time he didn't come get it out. It went to auction and no one bought it so Jared was able to get it. He's done a lot of work to it - swapped out engines, new axles, put the driveshaft back on so it would have four wheel drive (the kid before had put a different exhaust on and had to take the driveshaft off which was dumb because it made it only have two wheel drive) and a bunch of other stuff. There's still a lot to go but at least he can take it out and have fun with it now. Max and Jenny invited us to Three Peaks with their family and with Max's brother, Lowell and his family. Jared took a couple of pictures before taking the Blazer out and then took a couple more when he was on some rocks. The best part about the Blazer? It's not in the best condition so he doesn't care too much if he dings it or scratches it.

Crue in front of the Blazer (the tire is about as tall as he is!).

When Jared was taking pictures he was careful to not get the GMC on the front (he wants a bowtie there) so I took this one from the truck to get a better picture of it.

Climbing some rocks.

Now that's more like it - it's a lot steeper in person. Looks like we'll need a roll bar. :)

We got there before everyone else. I wasn't feeling too good (neither was cooper so either he shared what he had or I think it was just a lack of sleep from being up with a sick baby plus Crue getting out of bed a few times a night) so I stayed in the truck with Cooper and Jared and Crue hung around outside until everyone else got there. Then Crue went and played with Bret and Jared took the Blazer out a few times and rode the pit bike a couple of times. The first thing Crue did was squat down and rub his hands in the dirt. I told Jared he was in little boy heaven. We were talking for a minute when I looked over and Crue had raccoon eyes made from dirt. It was pretty funny.

It's gone!

Yesterday me and the boys went to St. George with my mom and sister. Crue grabbed my mom's glasses and put them on. He laughed and thought he was so funny. It was cute.

The main reason for going to St. George? To get my hair cut. Here is my hair before.

Here is the biggest cut.

Crue sitting on a little ottoman that was just the right size for him while my sister got her hair cut and I was sitting under the dryer. He was drinking out of a little cup and spilled all down the front of him.

Here's the final result! This is my sister-in-law Molly. She's the only one that I would trust to do this much of a cut on me, especially when I didn't know exactly what I wanted. I just sent her pictures of stuff I liked and told her a few things that I didn't want and wanted and told her to do what would look best. She did a few highlights since my hair has gone darker and then did a really cute cut.

Here's the back.

Here's the braid. It was 15 inches long and then she cut about another inch off after that! I'm donating it to Beautiful Lengths. I've donated twice before to Locks of Love so I thought I'd do a different one this time.

When I got there Molly made a ponytail and cut it off and then put some highlights in it because donated hair can't have color in it. When my mom and sister showed up I was under the dryer and they saw my hair and thought it was a pretty bad cut but they didn't dare say anything. When Molly was cutting Desiree's hair Desiree asked her what she was going to do to mine. That's when they found out that my hair was not done being cut and they were both relieved. It was pretty funny.

Let the messes begin

We've started putting Crue in the toddler bed lately so that we can hopefully put Cooper in the crib soon. The first two days he did great for naps and bedtime. After that, he figured out he wasn't stuck in bed like he was in his crib. One day I could hear that he had gotten up so I went to check on him after a little bit. I opened the door and he was standing right there, covered in vaseline. It was all over his hands, shirt, binkie and doorknob (he had tried to open the door). He had also gotten some on the door (he put one hand on the door when he tried to open it), on the door frame, on the changer part of the crib (where the vaseline goes and a few spots around that area), and he had smeared it on part of his bed on the sheet. The vaseline jar and lid was also covered, but it was closed and put back where it goes. I was so mad (I had already tried a couple other times to get him to stay in bed so this didn't help) that I spanked him and then grabbed the camera so I could have a picture of him covered in the vaseline. He was crying because he got a spank and knew he was in trouble. It was so funny though - the mess, not the crying. Luckily it wasn't too bad to clean up.

Here's my cute, sad, vaseline covered little boy.

Tomatoes!

Our neighbors told us how easy a drip system is to do in the garden (and be able to hook it up to your hose) and how much it helped their garden. We're probably going to do one too so I went to measure the garden yesterday and Crue came outside with me. I have 7 grape tomato plants (one is dying I think) because Crue loves them and eats them like candy if we let him. While we were out there I noticed a tomato on the ground and when I looked through the plants there was another one that was ready to pick. I gave them to Crue and he was SO excited. I told him to wait so we could wash them off. He'd hold them up to his mouth once in a while with his mouth wide open and wait to see what I'd do/say but when I told him we had to wash them first he'd put his hands down and be ok for a while. I offered to hold the tomatoes while he tried to walk through the weeds and then up the stairs on our deck but he didn't want to give them up. So I just grabbed his arm to help him. Here's the happy boy with his tomatoes! They were gone as soon as we got them washed off.

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