Happy Halloween 2011

We had a good Halloween this year. I planned to make the girls matching witch costumes. It didn't end up working out, so we had to borrow costumes. Claire was so excited to be a witch. She still has trouble saying a lot of words, so when people would ask what they were going to be for Halloween she would yell out "WITCHES!" Execept she would leave off that W, and put in a B. ;) It was funny. She still wore her witch hat with her lady bug costume half the time! Funny girl.
Olivia was Snow White when she went to her school party, and a witch for the rest of the time. I was a mime, Claire was a lady bug and Emma was a giraffe.

Emma 8 weeks

it is the weirdest thing- I can not get this picture to upload turned the right way. I have no idea why!

I have done the baby wise sleep training for a little over a week now. Emma is sleeping 7-8 hours for 3 nights in a row! (knock on wood) I have never had a baby sleep so long, so soon. It is amazing. And I have never once had to let her "cry it out" like I did with Liv and Claire for SOOO many long depressing nights. So, lets hope it continues!

Childhood

This picture just seems to sum up childhood to me. I love that Liv is wearing an outfit that doesn't really go- a tutu over the top of her pants. I love that they both have crazy messy hair and don't care who sees it that way. I love the chocolate ice cream all over Claires face and clothes. All she cares is that she got to gobble up some delicious ice cream! She doesn't care one bit that she is a mess! And I love that they are sprawled out on the bed after falling asleep to "phineas and pherb" on a Saturday afternoon all pooped out! It is just so cute and innocent. Childhood goes too fast, and I feel like in some ways I get to re-live it with my girls again. I love it!

A note to first time Moms

Emmas favorite way to sleep.. in my arms with her little fist up by her mouth.

Now that I am on my 3rd baby, I am realizing how badly I messed up with my first. Yes, it is true, the first is the guinea pig. Poor Liv. Breast feeding was a failure, and sleeping though the night was a big time failure. As I look back, I think about the only thing I really did right was love her, which is most important, so I will take that as a success!
I am currently reading "Baby Wise" which I've never actually read before, and I think has some very good points. Things I wish I knew before I was on my 3rd child. It could have saved me from a lot of stress and fatigue, which would have made me a happier, better mother. So- my advice to first time moms, and ANY moms that are having trouble, my advice is: Get help, and seek answers. In the hospital talk to the lactation specialists, talk to more then 1 if possible. I had no idea that there was SO much to learn about breast feeding. There are LOTS of tips and tricks that are beyond the basic. There are solutions to most problems, and most likely you can succeed at breast feeding if you get the right help. You can also call the le leche league, and they offer free help to anyone who wants it. If you think like I did " things are fine, I don't need help" you are probably wrong. Get it anyway, and you may be surprised at how much you don't know. I also think it is important to seek advice from different lactation specialists and books, because some times their advice is an opinion, and not always correct. Look at all the information, and then decide what is best for you.
The same advice goes for sleep training. I wish I had read this book BEFORE the baby was born, but oh-well. Read books, and talk with parents who have babies that sleep through the night to find out what they are doing. There is lots to be learned. I am STILL learning it. Maybe I will get it right this time! I have my doubts though... So, that is my advice. Learn, and learn it before the baby comes (as much as you can anyway) and you will be so happy you did.
I am starting "sleep training" today. Maybe Emma will be my first baby to actually successfully sleep through the night early, and actually continue through teething and sickness, and travel. Ha... wouldn't that be nice!? So, that picture will be the last of its kind. No more sleeping in mamas arms sweet Emma. It is a little sad for both of us. It is just so sweet and cuddly to hold a sleeping baby ;)

School Pictures

Here is Olivia's first school picture! Kindergarten 2011. Isn't she the cutest!?

6 weeks

Emma is almost able to hold her head up. I thought I'd try out hre new boppy chiar. She's still too wobbly, but close to being able to use it! Emma has really woken up the past few weeks. She is not loving her binky and just wants to be held 24/7. My back is really starting to hurt and I have dark circles under my eyes from the lack of sleep. Oh how I want to sleep for more then 7 very interrupted hours. It is just not enough, especially when Emma wakes me up wanting to nurse.
Then there is my Claire. She so desperately wants to be big. She likes to dress and undress herself all the time. Yesterday she was running around nude, pulled out the cereal for a snack, and put on a bib to eat it! So I find a 2 year old with nothing but a bib on. It made me laugh. I find dirty diapers in places they shouldn't be because she pulls them off and hides them! The latest was in her dresser drawer. So gross! At least they are not poopy!

Same, Same

Claire wanted me to take their picture because the girls were dressed the same. Claire always likes to point out things that are the same. She points to both saying "Same... Same!" If I ever want Claire to do anything, I just have to have Olivia do it. She always wants to be the same as Olivia. She is Olivia's parrot. She says EVERYthing Liv says. She is such a copy cat. It's funny. Good thing Liv doesn't mind it!


One reason why potty training feels like a must soon... Big poops are just nasty!

Emma at 5 weeks

The Norm

Emma is growing into her 3 month clothes instead of newborn stuff ;( They grow too fast.

Olivia is my little art/craft lover. She colors EVERY day. She loves anything to with crafts. Here are some of her pictures she drew this morning.

this is a "rainbow waterfall"


this is a flamingo with long red hair. haha! what an imagination!

And there is Claire... Just as cute as ever, but really testing my patience lately.

"EmmaKate"

Miss Claire loves her little sister. She calls her "AmmaKayte" It sorta sounds like one word with a southern accent on the Kate. Claire loves to kiss her and leave little wet marks on her head whenever possible. As of the past few days she has shown her jealous side though. When she is upset about something and wants my attention, if I am holding Emma she yells "My MOMMY!" "No EmmaKate! No!" And she will try to hit my leg and tug on Emma to get me to put her down and hold her. Other then her few outbursts lately she has done great about the transition. I'm trying hard to make 'Claire time' and 'Livie time'. This phase shall pass, and hopefully the 'terrible 2's' will be over soon! If only that was the worse of what she has been up to lately... ;)

3 weeks

don't you like Olivia trying to get in the picture? haha

i know- blogs turn into "look at my new baby" blogs after a new baby comes. sorry... gotta do it for gramma though!!

Why We Love Emma

Livie feeding Emma her first bottle. I always get my babies to take a bottle within the first week. As they get older it is SO nice to be able to leave for more then 2 hours. I can pump and some one else can have a turn feeding little Emma!

2 week stats:
weight: 7.41 lbs (23%)
height:20.25" (51%)
head:13.75" (26%)

Emma is a rather good baby. Here are some reasons why...
Sleeps 3-4 hours at night. It is never enough, but it could be worse!
Hardly ever cries...
She laughs and smiles a lot
She is adaptable. She takes a bottle, a binky, and the boob!
She has soft fuzz on her head
She lets Claire and Livie hold her, bump her, and scream around her and Emma will sleep through it all
She doesn't spit up too often (Claire and Liv spit up after EVERY feeding)
She hasn't blown out of her diaper... yet
She is just precious and little. If she would sleep 8 hours at a time I just may keep her this way forever ;) Oh, and if I didn't have to nurse every 2 hours... It gets old.

Olivia's First Day of Kindergarten

Can you believe Olivia is old enough to be starting school? Where has the time gone? We actually could have held Liv back a year since her birthday is in August. The cut off date is August 31st. If they are not 5 by that date they have to wait until the next year to start. So, Olivia will be one the very youngest in her class. I felt that she was ready to go this year though.
Anyway... the story...
Olivia has a lot of anxiety when it comes to new things. It doesn't seem to matter how excited she is for things, when the time comes she freaks out because it is something she has never done before. So, I some what expected starting school would be hard for her. We went to back to school night to meet her teacher. It started with 40 minutes of crying when I suggested going into her class room to meet her teacher. It ended fine though when she finally did go in. Her teacher was so sweet and gave her a big hug. Liv decided she REALLY liked her teacher and wasn't scared to start school.
Well, the actual day came. She told me that morning she decided she didn't want to go. She was set on the idea that she wasn't ready and she would rather be home with Claire and Emma. I was racking my brain thinking of SOME way to get her in school without a big crying scene. I asked her if she would make a deal with me. She said yes! The deal was that she would TRY kindergarten and if she didn't like it I would sign her up for pre-school again. She happily got ready for school and got excited again.
We went over to the school, liv happily walked in, until she saw the play ground FULL of children and parents. She stopped dead in her tracks and said "I AM NOT GOING!" She started crying and telling me there were too many kids. We sat on the sidewalk while everyone passed us by making comments like "Yea for Kindergarten!" Liv sat there crying and trying to talk it out for about 15 minutes and by the time she was done crying all the kids were inside starting school. I was out of ideas so I said whatever and said she could come home and we would try again later. We started walking back when she decided that she wanted to look into the window of her class to see just how many children were there. So, we went to look in the window.
We looked in, she decided there was indeed just too many kids. The class was sitting on the floor listening to the teacher. She was passing out name tags. She had 1 left and couldn't figure out where her last student was. She saw us out in the hall watching and she came to get Olivia. She says to me "I know it is hard to leave her, but it is best if you just leave" She takes Olivia and Livie starts screaming at the top of her lungs while she grabs me with a death grip. She is crying "no Mom, don't go! No! I don't want to go to Kindergarten!" So, I start crying and the teacher is telling me "we have your phone number if we need you, just go!" I am crying like a baby trying to pry Olivia off me. Finally I get away and Liv gets pulled into the class room. I didn't know what to do, and since Emma was at home waiting to be fed I just went home. It was awful leaving Liv like that! I couldn't help but wonder why out of 30 children I had to have the one and only that screamed and cried when I left.
So, finally 3:30 rolls around and I go pick up Olivia. She came out happy and smiling. Apparently after about 10 minutes of crying Liv finally calmed down. She later warmed up and had some fun. She told me she really like school and was excited to go back. She has went back happily ever since! It is a good thing because I don't know how much crying I could handle! She is really liking school now and is making new friends every day. That first day was quite awful though ;)

Pictures Pictures Pictures!

Emma Kate Peterson
Born August 25, 2011
6lbs 11 oz.
20" long

Mommy soon after giving birth to Emma. Happy as can be!

first meeting... The girls were very apprehensive. Liv didn't hold her until the very end of the visit (it took her a few hours to warm up) by the next day she was ALL over Emma though. Claire only took about 5 minutes before she was trying to kiss her and rub her and grab her hand.

first family photo

First hair washing. Emma slept through it all until we dried her off! I guess it was cold getting out of the water!

Livie loves her new sister. She wants to hold her ALL day all the time. She is going to be such a big help! Now if only Claire were a little gentler...

The story of Emma Kate Peterson

Emma Kate was born August 25, 2011. This is the story of her labor and delivery. The weather had been in the 100's and I was SO ready for her to be born. At about 35 weeks I started to dilate and efface. By my 39 week appt. I was dilated to about a 4 and 90% effaced. I had my membranes stripped and thought for sure that I would go into labor some time that night. My mother in law graciously stayed the night just in case I went into labor so we could leave asap. I tested positive for Group Strep B and I wanted to make sure to get to the hospital as early as possible to get on the meds to protect Emma from getting sick. They would like you to be on the meds for about 4 hours. That night I woke up around 3 am and was NOT in labor! I was so mad and decided to jog around the living room and jump up and down. Nothing happened so I went back to bed. The next day I woke up still not in labor and felt like I was being tortured. I was SO uncomfortable and I had been having contractions for 4 weeks. I was so done with it all. I thought the stripping of the membranes had not worked and I would just have to be induced. (With both Claire and Olivia I went into labor the night I had my membranes stripped). I was so sad about it all because the Dr I wanted to deliver was on call until 12 am that night and I was going to miss him. ;( My mother in law decided to stay at our house until Emma arrived, but I was skeptical that she would arrive any time soon. I decided to try and stay active and on my feet to maybe induce labor. We walked to the park, went grocery shopping and I even did some running with the girls in the back yard.

That night I decided to take a bath after the girls went to bed. It was 9:00pm and I was sweaty from our long hot day. Brett went to church meetings and to play basketball for the night. He usually gets home around 11:30pm. I lied in the bath wishing something would happen, but just felt the random weak/moderate contractions I had been feeling for weeks. I dreamed of having my water break or SOMEthing to happen. After I got out of the bath I realized I had felt contractions most of my bath and that they MAY be getting regular. I finished getting ready for bed and by 10:30pm I decided to track the contractions, just in case. They were about every 6 minutes. I got a twinge of hope and texted Brett that I thought MAYBE I might be going into labor soon but to not worry or come home early. By the time Brett got home at 11:20 ish I decided I was in labor, it was just really inconsistent with how weak or strong the contractions were. Some were barely there while others hurt pretty badly. I called my mom and we decided I better head to the hospital and the worse that could happen was they would send me walking. So- Brett took a shower and we were off. We arrived around midnight. The contractions were pretty strong by then and regular. I thought I had MAYBE dilated to 4.5 maybe 5 if I were lucky. They checked me and I was at an 8!! I couldn't believe it! They quickly got me hooked up to everything and got an epidural for me so that maybe I could have the anti-biotics for a little while. By 1:30am the Dr came to break my water and deliver the baby. I was not really ready or expecting to push yet. I hadn't mentally really realized what was about to happen. The next thing I knew the Dr is telling me to push and all I could think was "this hurts SOOO bad! I should have pushed the button for more medicine from the epidural!" I realized then that if I pushed (the one thing I did NOT want to do, since I knew it would hurt even more) that she would come out and the pain would be gone. So I pushed and pushed again. She was out and I just could not believe my eyes. There she was. A new sweet tiny baby girl. How was she here already!? I was so shocked she was out and it was over with. She was beautiful and we were SO happy. On a side note, during the pushing the Dr gave me an episiotomy. Another side note, when we arrived at the hospital I found out the Dr that I wanted was on call! I was SO happy to hear that he would deliver Emma. I guess there shifts go from 7am-7am the next day. So, if I had went into labor the night before he would not have been my Dr. The Lord was blessing me all along.

After Emma was delivered I was on such a happy high. I was just SOO happy to not be pregnant. So happy that I arrived at the hospital in time and so happy the labor and delivery was easy. Every thing just turned out perfect. There were so many conflicting things going on in our schedule the next few days that it would have been a pain to have her any other day. Things like Olivia starting school on Tuesday. I was elated. It seemed everything was perfect. We are now home and everything is going really well. Emma is 2.5 days old and a good nurser. My nipples hurt extremely bad, but she is eating well and I know it will get better with a little time. I've had help from 2 lactation specialist and I think I've got all the help I could ask for. We are all so happy and mostly healthy. (the girls and Brett have had colds) Hopefully Emma won't catch anything.

#5

Olivia turned 5 this year. It is hard to believe that they grow up so fast. The day was filled with all things Liv requested. She got a new swim pool with a "slide", she wore a new tutu skirt all day and went to the Nickle-cade. She wanted to have a picnic at the park for dinner, but since it was raining we went to the food court at the mall and then played in the mall play ground. She brought her friend Anna and they had a lot of fun. She requested Popsicles for desert and a balloon launch. The lady filled the balloons too much at the store so 2 popped by the time we got outside to launch them in the air. Olivia wished for "a happy family" when she let go of the balloons.

Updates

I was going to wait until later this afternoon to update the blog (since I have a Dr's appointment later taoday) but, I have time now... and lately I've had no time for blogging. So- I figure I better seize the moment and do it now. Claire and Olivia are doing well and are excited for all upcoming events. Liv starts Kindergarten and we will have a newborn. It is also Livs b-day next week. I wish I could spread the events out a little further... but it is what it is. Liv really wants a big party, but she understands and hasn't complained much that this year we just can't fit it in. We did do a little party with cousins and she loved that.
Speaking of cousins... We just got done with a family reunion. All of Bretts family came out to Utah and we hung out lots. The girls loved playing and bonding with their cousins. We have LOTS of girl cousins the same age, so it is lots of fun for them! Oh- and this next baby won't be short on cousins either. We have our baby, Britta, Alisha, and Nettie who will also have a baby soon too! And on my side of the family we have Promise and Emily having babies (actually Promise just had hers...) So, our little baby will have 5 cousins her age. crazy!

Here are some cousins together. Aunt Alisha styled hair and they were SO proud of their beautiful princess hair. Even Claire stood in line to get her threads done ;) So cute! (not all the cousins are pictured here... I was a bad photographer this reunion)

Claire was re-evaluated this week for her speech development. Turns out she has come a long way! She is just slightly delayed and they think she will fully catch up in the next 6 months. She is really talking a LOT more and is even doing 3 word phrases. Her phrases are hard to understand, but with practice I think she will be talking and easily understood soon. Olivia's big accomplishment of the summer is learning to not be scared of the water. She was in swim lessons for a few weeks, and she was SO proud of her accomplishments. She can now put her head in the water. (I know it's a freaky picture, but she LOVES it!) She thinks she is pretty awesome. Claire has tried everything Olivia was learning and I'm surprised she hasn't drowned in the bath... 2 year olds just do not understand the concept of holding their breathe. The girls talk about the baby every day, and yesterday they decided to play "momma and baby" Claire crawled around, while Liv dressed her in footsie PJ's and fed her out of a bottle. They crack me up. They also play "doggie" a lot too. Claire pretends to be a dog (she even licks you! YUCK!) While Livie is the owner who feeds her, pets her, and takes her for walks. As of last Tuesday- I found out I was dilated to a 2.5 and 70% effaced. That was at 36 weeks. I'm excited to know if anything has changed. The baby's head is down and pushing to come out (yes, it is highly uncomfortable and hurts a lot) yet she still manages to be able to kick my ribs. I am thinking she must be one looong baby! If I stretch out, she can't quite reach my ribs, so I only get a few kicks before I move and she can't reach far enough ;)