Only one week left......

Next Monday, I have to leave this face. I cannot believe it's already been 12 weeks since his (very terrifying) birth. I'm glad that I've gotten to spend 12.5 weeks home with him, but I'm wishing for a few more months of strictly mom time!!

He has grown and changed so much in the past 12 weeks. He's already over 14 lbs, has grown more than 4 inches since birth, his head control is amazing lately (tummy time IS worth it!), and he is cooing and talking all the time. He loves to be on a schedule and his cues are really easy to read. God has certainly blessed B and I with this boy!

Hi Mommy!!!

We do love our daycare, and I was more than happy about our infant room, so I can't complain about the care he is going to get. I know his teachers will love him to death- they're already SO excited to have him full time.  It's just hard to know that the first time he rolls over will probably be there and that we'll miss some of his wonderful milestones. I love, love, love that SYT has great friends at daycare and is learning so much more than I would have taught him at this point, but the baby stage has been so wonderful with Peter that I'm definitely going to miss every day with him.

I have asked my work if going to part time is a possibility but I haven't gotten an answer on that yet. I know it wouldn't happen for a few months (due to scheduling and getting a new team member that needs training), but I am really, really hoping that my boss can make it work. I really think that a day home during the week with my boys would make a huge difference in my heart!!

I am excited to see my coworkers and my favorite patients, and I really do LOVE my job.  I am only sad to miss my sweet boy's smile in the middle of the day and the awesome cuddle sessions we have. We have already given him a bottle which he has taken to like a champ, so that is one worry off my plate. I already have a freezer stash of breastmilk, so as long as I can continue to keep up my milk supply daily at work, Peter should be set! I just pray he is as easy and loving for them as he is for us at home. Sweet boy, I will miss you!!!!

Pink and Green Party

Back in the day (early 80s), my aunt would always make fun of the tourists who came up to Harbor Springs for vacation as they always wore pink and green and would eat nothing but fudge and ice cream for a week straight.  My aunt complained about this enough that my mom and dad decided it would be hilarious to throw a surprise pink and green party and not tell her about it.  So they invited family and friends to come to the cottage in their best pink and green attire for the party.  My aunt showed up before most of the guests in her red pants and white shirt and finally realized the joke was on her when everyone else was in pink and green (as well as the plates, napkins, jelly bellys, etc).  The party became a yearly ritual while my parents owned the cottage, and it was a really fun party (so I hear- I was still very young and often didn't attend).

Since those years, whenever my entire family is together, we have held a family pink and green party.  Everyone loves dressing up for it, and it always makes the best family pictures!  This year just happened to be one of the years that almost everyone was up north for vacation, so the party was on!! 

Haley's pink sparkle Toms.  The perfect shoe for the party!

H, A, &B

Spencer in his helmet (it's rare that he doesn't have it on for something) and two of the three boy cousins that he hung out with all week.  Even though they are 12, 10, and 8, they really were great with both my boys and played with them constantly.

In the driveway as people were arriving.

Aunt MA and my mom wear Lilly well, don't they?

E- he is 3 and has the BEST hair!!

Sweaty Spence after riding his tricycle forever in the driveway.

The best family photo we took- blurry and horribly weird faces.  Again, this is NOT easy!!

The watermelon shark.  My cousin made this for the fruit salad.  It was amazing.  L (E's twin) thought it was hilarious and kept eating the eyes off it, sticking her hand and head in the teeth and then screaming as people would pretend to eat her.  Hysterical.

My brother and his girlfriend.  They're adorable together.

Cousin K.

B, E, and Spence

Yep, JFK Jr look alike.  J is my cousin's husband and he's just as sweet and smart as he is good looking.  They have a fabulous relationship and an adorable almost 1 year old.

K, S, and I

After dinner, drinks, croquet, and ladder golf, the family went down to Gram's beach to have a skipping stone contest.

Spence in his jammies throwing stones

My brother and uncle paddleboarding

Sweet L gets all wet in the lake.

The croquet champ of the night

The whole family.  Literally, this is my mom's entire family minus three cousins.  We were so lucky to all be there to play together, spend time together, eat together, and learn more and more about each other and how amazing it is to have a family like this.  I love my family even more than I love this party!!

Peter is 2 months old!

Grrrrrrr.......I cannot get my pics to upload for this post.  That being said....

My baby boy is 2 months old!!  He was 2 months on the 9th but I wanted to wait until I had the stats from our drs apt to post this.  Turns out, his stats are almost identical to SYT when he was 2 months.
Behold:
Peter 2 mo: Ht- 23 in, Weight- 13lbs, 14 oz, Head Circ- 16 in
Spencer 2 mo: Ht- 23 in, Weight- 13lbs, 13oz, Head Circ- 16 in
Yep the ONLY difference is 1 freaking oz! Wow.  Our pediatrician was very happy with how he is doing.  He had a huge poop in the office so I showed her how green and mucousy it was and wondered if that meant that I needed to cut out soy as well as dairy.  She said that unless I saw blood or unless he was super fussy, there was no need to cut out soy.  He is growing well and is rarely fussy (yea!!), so I'm not cutting soy out.  I don't drink soy milk or eat soy yogurt, really the soy I have is just the soy lethicin preservative that is in lots and lots of foods.  She said that continuing to breastfeed is more important than cutting out the little bit of soy I do ingest, so we're going to stick with just dairy free for the time being.  That's hard enough!!

Peter had a week of sleeping for 6-8.5 hours overnight while we were up north- it was wonderful.  Then, when we got back here, he flipped into 2.5-3 hour stretches.  Not so wonderful!  Last night he did a 6.5 hour stretch, so I'm hoping we're headed back to good nighttime sleep.  It was so hot here last week and I think that, as well as a possible growth spurth, may have been affecting his sleep. 

He is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes now and is in a size 2 diaper.  It is funny how fast he grew out of stuff! 

He has a very, very easy temperment.  He is on a good schedule of eat, play, sleep and takes 30 min- 1.5 hour naps in between feedings.  Occasionally he will get fussy during the day which almost always means that he has a burp that he hasn't gotten out or really needs to poop.  He loves to play on a blanket on the floor and just stretch and dance and coo and smile.  It's totes adorable!  He hates tummy time (Spencer loved it).  We do it a few times a day to strengthen his head, neck, and back, but it's fuss city pretty soon after we start.  He hasn't rolled over yet and isn't very interested in trying either. 

He is a great nurser (obviously- his weight is in the 80th percentile!!) and can even nurse when I'm walking around the kitchen prepping stuff (yes this has happened, and no it's not easy!!).  He has lots and lots of wet diapers and plenty of poop. 

Spencer still adores him which is wonderful to see.  I pray that this continues and that they will always love each other completely (even when they don't like each other much).  I'm still amazed at how different they look.  It's funny how the same two human beings can bring the same genetic make up to the mix twice and get such different results :)  Peter's smile is beyond precious, and every time I see it, my heart fills up completely.  I am massively in love with this kid!! 

It won't be long before he is rolling, sitting up, eating solids, and babbling with intention.  I know how fast the time flew with Spencer, and I always wanted Spencer to be advancing and to do new things.  Now, with Peter, I know that the new things he acquires just means he's getting older and then he won't be my baby anymore, so I'm completely content for him to just follow his own pattern and stay a baby.  Okay, okay, maybe he could start sleeping through the night every night, but that's it!!!  Ha!!

Just 10 days!

I'm SO excited.  I love, love, love the Olympics and cannot wait to watch as much as I can of the London games.  The opening ceremonies of the last summer Olympics occurred on the night of our rehearsal dinner, so B and I spent our mini-moon (3 nights down the coast of Michigan) in bed and breakfasts snuggling in bed and watching Michael Phelps win 8 gold medals.  It was an awesome start to our marriage!

I prefer the summer games- gymnastics, swimming, diving, track and field.  B prefers the winter- hockey, hockey, skiing, and more hockey.  Our dream is to, one day, attend the Olympics- it'll be interesting to see which of us wins the summer vs. winter battle.

Are you as excited as I am?  Do you prefer the summer or winter games?

4th of July...... and why we'll have to settle for non-picture Christmas cards this year!

Here are two family pictures we took while we were up north for the week.  It's pretty obvious that getting a two year old, a two month old, and two parents to look at the camera at the same time while not blinking, glaring at the camera, or looking utterly ridiculous is impossible. I'm already dreading pictures for the Christmas card!

Spencer absolutely loved the parade.  He clapped and smiled through the whole thing. It was hotter than hot (90+). Luckily we had a spot in the shade which helped a tiny bit. We went home right afterwards and Spencer fell asleep while walking back to the car and slept for 2.5 hours! We didn't go out to watch the fireworks as we were tired and needed to get things organized for our party the next night; however, we ended up being able to see the Harbor Spring's fireworks from my mom's house.  What a wonderful and unexpected surprise!

Party time!

On the 5th of July, B and I hosted a party at my mom and Ralph's new house for our Bay View friends. It was 90 degrees and their air conditioning had broke that week (uggggg), so it was a scorcher of a party, but we had fun anyway. We made all the food and drinks the evening of the 3rd and the morning of the 4th.  I took some pictures, but I'll give you a full run down of the menu below.

Saw this idea on pinterest and just had to do it.  So cute!  We had a few left at the end of the night and they were the perfect clean up snack. You really could use any cookie cutter to make the shapes on the skewers for any theme. I would have to recommend making the slices as thin as possible so that the cookie cutter goes all the way through. My slices were a little thick, so I often had to trace the cookie cutter with the knife in order to get all the way through to the other side.

Close up of the watermelon stars.

Chicken skewers with peanut sauce.  The skewers had poultry seasoning, soy and terriyaki sauce, and garlic on them prior to being grilled.  B found a peanut sauce recipe online that include peanut butter, sugar, water, soy sauce, and garlic. I don't like peanut sauce, but everyone else raved about this.  It was really easy to make too!

Veggie tray with hummus and pesto cream cheese dip.

This is one of my very favorite summer recipes.  It's fruit salsa with homemade cinnamon chips. If you are ever going to a party and need to bring something, this is always my first recommendation.  Everyone loves it! It's also really good left over the next morning over pancakes or the next evening over ice cream :)

Annie's cherry and goat cheese bruschetta is definitely worth trying.  It's delish and unexpected! This picture is terrible, sorry!

We also had grilled pork tenderloin sliders with a homemade peach compote, lemon curd with berries, brownies, and regular tomato bruschetta for the food table. We served beer, wine, skippers (ie: skip and go nakeds- limeade, clear rum, and beer), and Pimm's cup at the bar.

A picture of all the girls later in the evening once the sun had gone down. I look HORRID here (note to self: don't let people pull you to the center of the picture and stand face forward when EVERYONE else is on an angle- not a good look!), but I'm glad I have the memory!!

We were really excited to celebrate a great week with our friends and enjoyed having a chance to catch up sans kiddos!!

New recipes

(picture from framedcooks.com)

I made this recipe that I found on Pinterest tonight for dinner.  With the incredible heat we've had this summer, it was so nice to eat something so cool and refreshing.  I thought the addition of a can of white beans would really help this salad to have more substance, and I'm so glad I added it.  It was incredible and so healthy! B stated that this one is "a keeper"! It's got fabulous color, too, and looks great in a white shallow bowl. We served it with grilled multigrain bread which was a perfect addition to the meal.

(picture from bakersbanter.com)

I also made this Double chocolate zucchini bread from King Arthur Flour tonight as I was craving chocolate and can't eat much of it right now (dairy free again!!!).  I've never made zucchini bread before, but King Arthur's recipes are usually great, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Ghiradelli's semi-sweet chocolate chips don't contain dairy, so I can use those for baking.  The bread is a quick bread, so it's super easy and it just came out of the oven a few minutes ago. The top was a touch dry (possible that I overcooked it a few minutes too long), but the rest is delicious! I would highly recommend trying this- just bake it a little less than the recipe calls for. B liked it too- he was definitely thrilled with our entire meal tonight!

Anything you've made recently that has knocked your socks off? I'd love to know!!

Maternity leave has been so busy!  Yowzers.  So much for lying on the couch, watching tv, reading books, and talking to internet friends ;)  As you can tell, I've totally been neglecting the blog, not out of lack of wanting, but out of lack of time. 

A few updates for you:
1. B's brother and two of his kids (7 year old twins) have been here with us this week.  It's fun seeing the kids play together and it's amazing how independent play really changes how you parent.  I am excited for Spencer to gain that skill!!

2.  Peter started social smiling around 5 1/2 weeks.  That and the cooing he does totally make my heart melt!

3.  Trying to pack and get the house organized for vacation when you have people staying with you is not easy.  I'm really stressed about getting everything done and being able to leave on time.  Luckily time is relative b/c we're driving and not flying.

4.  I just received my Aden and Anais bamboo swaddle blankets in the mail.  They're amazingly soft and so lightweight- perfect for summer.  I do love the A&A regular swaddles, but the bamboo ones are even better, in my opinion.  Natural Little One has the best prices by FAR on all the A&A stuff (good information for those of you expecting or going to baby showers!!)

5.  Currently reading 50 Shades of Gray.  I'm ambivelent on this.  I definitely am interested in finding out what happened to Christian in the past and I like Ana to some extent, but it's just so........well, different and not very realistic (to me anyway- who knows, maybe this is normal for others).  I about DIED reading the contract.  My FB post stated, "I wonder if law schools across America will be using 50 Shades for their contract law classes". I'm sure I'll read books two and three (unless all of you leave me comments saying not to bother).

6. Just finished book 4 of Game of Thrones.  I did NOT like the fact that the characters are split between book 4 and 5 and I also felt that there was very little character resolution in book 4 (since those characters won't be in book 5).  My sister in law thinks that there definitely should be a book 6 as even at the end of 5 there is a lot of open questions.  I do like the series, though, and am hoping to watch them eventually on DVD as we don't have HBO.

7.  We leave on Saturday for vacation!!!  We're going up north for the 4th.  Cannot WAIT!  B is going up for one week and the boys and I are staying for two.  We'll then come home for a week and go back up for another week before I have to go back to work in August.  Three weeks in my favorite spot with my friends and my mom to help- yes, please!!!  So thankful for this!

8.  I got the all clear at my OB apt to start working out again.  I've done Jillian twice and have been doing push ups, lunges, squats, etc whenever I can get them in (ie- during naps, while Spencer is playing in the yard, etc).  I'm excited for vacation so that we can get in daily work outs.  I'm definitely taking the Shred with me and am hoping to run once or twice with B while my mom and Ralph watch the boys.  He runs a lot longer and faster than I do, but I'm hoping he'll help me motivate once or twice :)

9.  I love Pinterest.  It's just so easy to browse while nursing!!

He's smiling (and a kidney update)!!

These pictures were taken at 6 weeks old and he's now 7 weeks.  My how the time flies!!

Peter is happy to report that our first trip to the nephrologist's office went well.  The two tests we had last week showed that his left kidney is still abnormally small (below the 5th percentile) and has very little function.  The right kidney is growing well and functioning well.  The left kidney is growing though, so, at this point, we expect that it will continue to grow throughout his life, just on it's own growth curve.  It will always be small and it will probably always have some functionality to it (though not enough to take over for the other kidney if that kidney were damaged in any way). 

His ultrasound showed that he has mild (grade I) hydronephrosis in the good (right) kidney.  This can be normal up to age one, so we will get serial ultrasounds over the next year to watch it.  If it stays the same or gets smaller, then that is great.  If it worsens, then we will have to do another test (VCUG) to see if he is having backflow of urine up into his kidneys.  That can cause lots of infections and damage the good kidney which is why it is necessary to watch it so closely.  I'm content that it hasn't worsened in the first 6 weeks of life, so I'm not worried about the future.

Since my office is on the same floor as the nephrologist's, I was able to stop in and see all my coworkers after the apt.  It was wonderful to see everyone!

(Close ups of this sweet, sweet face)

We're so happy that he is doing well overall and glad that we really haven't been given anything to worry about.  I'm so thankful!

Updates

1. I'm alive and surviving!

2. We've had a non-stop steady set of visitors since Peter was born leaving little time to do much besides parent, nurse, clean, and cook.  After those are done, thank you notes are my first priority.  Blogging has pretty much fell by the wayside, even though I regularly think about posting!

3. I've been up since 4:57 this a.m., and the boys are still sleeping at 6:30, hence the post.

4. We leave in a week and a half to go up north for the 4th of July week.  I am SO excited.  B and I are hosting a party at my mom's one night, so I'm trying to plan for that.  Just started working on the menu yesterday.  I feel behind the game already.  Worst thing is that I had to send a FB invitation rather than real invites becauseI just didn't have time to order them and get them in the mail.  Not pretty or festive :(  Hopefully the food, drink, and atmosphere of the night will make up for it.

5. It's HOT here in Michigan this week.  Today will be our 3rd day in the 90s.  As someone who loves living in a northern state, this is wayyyyy to hot for June!  What's even more of a bummer is that on days that are this hot, we can't go to the pool because poor Peter would just melt.  I bought a wonderful shade tent for him, so I usually take Spencer and Peter during one of Peter's naptimes, and then SYT and I play in the pool while PUT naps in the tent.  It has worked out really well so far.  But when it's 90+ degrees outside, I cannot imagine him just sweltering away (we've had no wind, so, therefore, no ventilation into the tent).  It's  supposed to cool down tomorrow and be back to a relatively normal heat for the rest of the week- here's to hoping!

6. SYT's newest "thing" is to want to clink glasses and say "Cheers!" during dinnertime.  It's so funny!  Apparently I have a future social chair on my hands!!

7.  Peter is starting to coo and smile.  It's heart melting!

8.  6 weeks out and my pants are still too tight in the waist.  Ugggg.... I can now start to work out though, so hopefully that will help.  My thighs need some serious toning as well!  I'll find out next Monday where my weight is, and I'm VERY interested in that.

9. Peter had two tests on his kidneys on Monday.  We were at the hospital for 3.5 hours which made for a long day.  We have our apt with the nephrologist to go over all the results next Wed.  I'm interested to see what she says.  I know some of the results already but not really what it all means, so I'll just fill everyone in next week.

10. I was able to see a bunch of coworkers when I was at the hospital.  It was wonderful to say hi and catch up a bit.  I miss work but I am not ready to go back :)

11. B got a promotion and a raise a few weeks ago!  I am SO proud of him and the work he has done at this company, and I am so glad they love him! 

12. My current favorite summer songs are Call Me, Maybe (does anyone not love this?  It's so fun!) and Somebody that I Used to Know.  B hate, hate, hates this one- he thinks it belongs back in the 80s.  I think that's what it's so popular (hello, neon skinny jeans!). 

Okay, boys are up!  Have a great Wednesday!!