Birthday Bash

We had a wonderful birthday weekend in Logan, celebrating our little Ezra. We can't hardly believe he is one year old, but we threw him a big party anyway! It was fun to enjoy Grandma K's backyard and the beautiful weather. A big thanks to everyone who came and brought food. Thanks even if you didn't bring food. It was fun! I have a feeling Ezra knew exactly that it was his special day. He would crawl around looking at everyone, giggling, smiling, and grunting. And what could be better than eating cake pops and his own ice cream cone?! Happy day, little man!

I got the idea for the cake from my cousin, who pointed me to bakerella.com. Those little bees are like eating pure joy!

Stats and Alarms

Teenie tiny Ez is only 17 lbs. 12 oz. - that's just under the 3rd percentile for weight. He is 28 in. tall (12%) and his head is 18 in. (60%). He might be little but he's still smart! We'll be taking him in every month to weigh him to make sure he's gaining. The doctor said it might be because he's crawling faster now with his tummy off the floor and he's standing up to everything. He's burning more calories. I think it's partly because I'm trying to quit breastfeeding and he's still not getting enough whole milk yet. But we all know Justin and I won't have a heavyweight champ, so I'm not worried.

I'll be posting about Ez's birthday weekend in Logan a little later, but I thought I'd jot down another "endless alarm" experience. Do you remember our camping experience? Well this wasn't quite as bad, thank goodness, but bad enough. We ran into Best Buy so that Grandma K could look at TVs. As we were browsing, Nolan pushes open an emergency exit door and a very obnoxious, loud alarm sounds. Oh jeez. Not another alarm. Well, several workers walked over, I apologized, and I figured it would be turned off in a jiffy. Turns out the workers' key was broken. They messed around with the door for a bit, and then walked off. At this point, we're all feeling very sheepish. They send for reinforcements but no luck... the alarm is still sounding and customers are starting to clear out. By now there's about 8 to 10 employees (I guess they have that many employees for occasions such as these) swarming around dealing with the alarm. After about 5 minutes, they located the "chosen one" who had the magical key and peace was again restored. Other than us and some die hards looking to buy a huge plasma, the place was empty (oh yeah, and the 10 employees). Justin made sure one of the tall, ominous workers gave Nolan a little talking to (he's learning about natural consequences) and we were out the door. For some reason, Grandma K was no longer interested in looking at TVs.

Portraits

The boys are 1 and 3 years old so we headed to the portrait studio. They turned out great considering Nolan is at the "fake smile" stage, and Ezra is crawling all over like a wild man. Love these cuties! We're looking forward to a fun celebration for Ezra's birthday this weekend.

Feeling Happy

All is well in the Petersen home. We've planted our vegetable garden, the flowers are blooming, and we're enjoying some warmer weather. Justin actually took 4 days off for Memorial weekend (including his regular Friday off since he works 4 10's) which is wonderful because he's been working 60+ hours a week lately. It was great to have some family time without any laptops or blackberries interfering. So naturally, we headed into town and bought a TV and entertainment center. I've said it before and I'll say it again: we love IKEA! We started Monday off at the nearby track where we got a little exercise as a family and tried to teach Nolan some baseball skills. Justin and I ended up practicing our batting skills while Nolan ran around the track yelling, "I'm exercising with by myself." (His words, not mine.) The rest of the day was spent doing yard work, washing/waxing the van, and mopping the kitchen floor. Not exactly fun holiday stuff, but it felt good to get it done.

Ezra has two new words this week. "uh-oh" and "wow." He kind of whispers the "wow" sound and makes his mouth open really big. He also loves feeding mom and dad his snacks. As we pretend to eat from his hand, he makes the movements with his mouth along with us. I've officially cut off the breastfeeding at night because I've started giving him cow's milk in a sippy cup. If he gets up in the night, it's a quick sip and back to bed. Pretty soon he'll be on cow's milk only... yahoo! Of course I've loved bonding with Ez, but bonding time is over, buddy!

We had a fabulous visit at a nearby park today with 3 of our friends. They each have two boys also, so there was a total of 8 boys age 3 and under. Good to know there are lots of little friends for my kids. The park play ended early when I caught Nolan hiding behind a nearby fence. I knew immediately he had dropped a bomb in his underwear... again. This poo in the underwear has got to stop. It's starting to get me down. Poor guy is doing great otherwise, though. He'll get it! Apparantly our bribes of gum, new Legos, train rides, and a computer in his bedroom aren't working.

We recently got a water softener. That has immensely improved my quality of life. Softer skin, no more eczema for Ez, less time spent cleaning, less soap, cleaner dishes, the list goes on and on. It's fabulous! There's the trouble of expense and hauling salt from the store, but I'm willing to overlook that (or at least make Justin deal with it)!

That's the report for the week. Hope everyone's summer is off to a happy start!

Park City Vacation

We spent the past week in Park City. Our friends offered us their timeshare place that they didn't want to use, so we got a great deal on a very beautiful place. Nolan was so excited to be staying at a hotel. It really didn't feel like a hotel, since it had two bedrooms, two baths, a family room, and full kitchen. The fitness room was Nolan's happy place along with the beautiful and very warm pool. We even got to use the theater room twice. (Let me just interject here that we loved The Blind Side and couldn't believe Where The Wilds Things Are even made it to the big screen.) I enjoyed updating my wardrobe by running over to the outlets to shop for a couple hours every few days. What joy!

We got to see lots of family, too. My mom and sister, Keeley, spent two nights with us. And at the end of the week Justin's mom came for two nights as well. The boys love it when mom and dad aren't the only ones around to play with. We didn't get many pictures of our low-key week, but we did get pictures of Nolan's new talent: drawing stick people! Actually, he always says that it's a picture of Daddy and no one else.

Yep, those are cowboy boots with shorts. We have great fashion sense!

Nana's Visit

My Nana is nearly 90 years old and she was still up for a visit! She stayed with Lacey and came over to our place a couple times to eat and visit with us. We even took a trip to the zoo, which turned out to be a little chilly and wet, but she's a trooper. My Dad (Nana's son) even treated us to a nice evening at The Cheesecake Factory (Nolan and Ezra loved their babysitter and I did too!). My only regret is that I didn't get a picture of Nana teaching me how to knit. She is amazing at needlepoint, crochet, and knitting, and I feel bad that it's taken this long for me to inquire after her handiwork skills. Now if I could just find my knitting needles that Nolan took off with!

Ezra sure got a kick out of the black and white monkeys. He even gave them some good chuckles.

Getting big

Ezra is now 11 months old and I can't believe we'll be celebrating a birthday in a few weeks. He's been standing up to furniture and has finally started crawling with his tummy up off the floor. He still prefers the army scoot when he needs to get somewhere fast, though. He loves being entertained, which isn't as much as he'd like. He bores of his toys easily and is happiest when he's outside on a walk. He loves waving bye-bye. He sticks his arm straight out and opens and closes his tiny hand. Today at church, we were waiting in the foyer and I looked down to see Ezra waving. I followed his stare and found a class full of young girls that were waving at him. Ah, a ladies man already. His new favorite foods include macaroni, veggie stix, and toast with cream cheese. He is even doing better with the sippy cup (it seems like I write that every other week... maybe soon he'll master it). He has also developed a piercing squeal that I suspect Nolan taught him while I wasn't looking.

Here's the little man at 11 months:

Love you!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers and grandmothers in our lives. It's been a little crazy around here with Justin working long hours, some insane weed pulling, and potty training. That's why we didn't get out cutesy cards out with photos of the boys. I'm sorry - this will have to do. This is our sad attempt at a happy, loving picture for you. The paper was getting crumpled because Ez kept trying to eat it. Ez also kept flopping over to cuddle with his blanket (he already loves it way too much). And Nolan kept yelling, "He's eating it!" Moms, you deserve much more but we hope you know that we love you so much! Hope it was a wonderful day.

Justin cooked a lovely omelette dinner for me and tidied up the house. He also helped with Nolan's bowel movement that didn't make it to the right place. Let me just say, potty training is getting old. I'm seriously thinking about putting him back in diapers and trying again in a few months. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Some good news for me today. I'm the secretary in Young Women's and our president is moving this week. Laurie has been wonderful to serve with, along with Connie and Missy, the counselors. I was feeling bad that I wouldn't be the secretary any more because it's a great calling. Well, I knew the release was coming, but I also had an interview with the bishop and Justin was invited to come. Oh boy - what scary change awaited me?! Well, it turns out they called me to be secretary in the new presidency! Yay!!! It will be great working with Christie, Kerri, and Anna-Marie. So the good news is that I don't have a new scary calling. What a relief!

Another good part of the day was a long quiet afternoon of reading. The boys are beginning to sleep at the same time (only one nap now for Ez) and it was so nice. Justin was saying that our Heavenly Father was very compassionate when he "programmed" children to need naps. It's such a big help to their parents. And then he also said, "And it even makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint - Kids who take better naps are more likely to survive their parents!" So true.

Ezra is beginning to pull himself up to kneeling. He wants badly to stand up, but I don't think that will come for another week or two. Still no crawling with the tummy off the floor, but he sure gets around with his army scoot. He's beginning to drink from a sippy if the valve is off so that it just runs into his mouth. I figure he has no other choice but to swallow.