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 ;)

Baby Names

Just for the record, and for fun I thought I'd write a post about naming the baby. We have had such a hard time coming up with a name. I think we are down to the finals though. Every child wants to know what there name COULD have been, so this is why I write. Baby #3, you have been called MANY different things so far ;)
Claire calls you "Baby Haas" (pronounced like "ha ha he he" type of Ha)
Olivia would like to name you after one of her friends like "McKenna" or "Myah" She changes her mind often though, she has also liked the names Cynthia and Maria
Daddy would like to name you Alexis, or Katelyn
I would have liked to name you Addalyn
The other many names that we have considered were:
Ellianna
Elle
Ellie
Emelia
Eliza
Alexa

But in the end I think the final names that we are considering are:
Emma Kate Peterson or
Ava Camille Peterson
Unless of course we decide on something else entirely last minute ;)

Summer Fun

Olivia was SO proud to ride a horse. Claire rode for a minute before she decided it was too scary. Liv even rode without me standing next to her. What a brave girl ;)

I've been trying to pack in as much fun and activities as I can handle this summer before the baby comes. The girls have gotten to do lots of fun things. Today we went to Kangaroo Zoo (a place where they have lots of bounce houses), we have also gone to a farm (2 times), we've gone swimming a few times and Liv has taken swim lessons. She really learned a lot in her 2 week course. They have also played in the backyard nearly every day. Half the time they turn on the hose and end up in the kitty pool. They are LOVING the new play set. It took awhile for them to get used to it, but now they love to play out there all day. We've also been up to the canyons a few times, and had a lot of backyard BBQ's. Olivia is getting so tan and Claire is still as white as me. It is weird since BOTH of them get sunscreen. Livie obviously doesn't have my coloring ;) And you may think "poor Claire" but she has the most beautiful porcelain skin, so it's not so bad. Even if she does burn within a minute of being in the sunshine ;) They are both having a great summer. Claire has switched to a big girl bed. She was doing great... things are rather questionable the last few nights though. We will over come the sleepless nights though... some day.

First Maternity Photos (32 weeks)

This is my 3rd baby, but it's my very first time taking maternity photos! In the past Brett has snapped a few here and there, but I generally would end up deleting them thinking I looked horrible! When all is said and done, I always felt a little sad that I didn't have any photos of my big belly. My children would never know what their mother looked like pregnant. Sad... So, I asked my friend Jamie to take some pictures! She did a fabulous job! Although I am so astonished at how large my belly looks, it is great to have some beautiful photos. Thank you soo much Jamie!!

Visit from Grandparents

at the balloon festival at 6 am. Can you tell Liv is NOT a morning person!? She would not get dressed in descent clothes, and she kept saying she needed someone to hold her. Luckily, she was fine later ;)

Gramma 'K' and Grandpa 'K' came to visit over the 4th of July weekend. We were busy with lots of activities. We threw a surprise baby shower for my sister Emma in our back yard, we woke up early on a Saturday to watch hot air balloons lift off in Provo, we had a BBQ and fireworks out in our cul-d-sac (how are you supposed to write that!?) and while my parents and Em and Francisco watched stadium of fire- from the actual stadium, our family watched the fireworks from a near-by park. It was a busy week-end, but we had lots of fun.
Being 8 months pregnant, I thought I may not be able to do much, but I actually felt pretty good. I had contractions all afternoon on Saturday and that was no fun, I was also napping like every day trying to feel rested, but it seems no matter how much I rest I still feel tired. As for names, we are still at a loss. I know people think we are being secretive, or not wanting to tell our "list" but honestly it seems that the list changes every few days. Brett and I can not agree on any name. I feel like I have a few favorites, but apparently Brett is not "feeling it". And the names that are his favorite, well, I guess I'm just not into right now. They are fine names... just not for MY daughter!

Cute girls

Latest Hobby

I have mentioned a few times that I have a new love for baking... Baking TREATS that is ;) I have come so far in my quest to make yummy delicious baked goods. Lets just say just a few years ago I couldn't even bake a chocolate chip cookie that tasted good. I also failed at many other treats. They were usually okay, but not great. I wanted to make cakes and cookies and treats that were REALLY good. I think I am really getting there. I have read lots and lots of cook books and detailed ways of how you should bake, what type of ingredients to use, and so on. It has been so fun. My sister in law Britta has real talent for baking and she has taught me a lot too. Today at the library I found a new cookbook that I think is a gem. It is: The sweeter side of Amy's Bread. I love it! I have yet to try a recipe, but I have looked at them, and they look like good recipes. That is yet another talent I am being blessed with. With all the recipes and knowledge I have now, I can generally look at a recipe and know if it is a good one. I am not a professional of any sort, but I really am developing a talent for this baking stuff! Another favorite book I got at the library was Juniors Cheesecakes. I tried to make a cheese cake before this book, and it was nasty. Now the few cheesecakes I have made are REALLY good. I don't meant to brag... it's the book that taught me the tricks. So, if you are ever interested in making a cheesecake and don't know how, just check out that book. It is great.

I have had another quest of making great home made bread. Not nasty stuff that is heavy and dense. No, I want to make really good bread. The kind you pay lots of money for at a bakery. The kind you can't buy in the store, only really good bakery shops. I want to make good french breads with crusty tops and baguettes that are to die for. I have tried a little, but I have not succeeded in this pursuit yet. I think I need to invest in the right tools first. I don't have a Kithenaid or bosch, and it would be fabulous to have the kind of oven that is good for making bread. Yeah, maybe when we are rich... ;) Although I have read a lot of books about it and scoured the internet, it still intimidates me. I know I will get there some day, it's just a little more intimidating then the pasty/treat making. Don't get me wrong, I can make yeast breads and bread sticks and what not, I just want to make it better. I don't want to eat the average home cooked stuff, I have a quest for the best!
Oh, and Ma, since you are always asking for gift ideas,and I never have an answer for you, I would love to own those books some day... hint hint!

How I make my pictures larger

I have been asked now by a few fellow blog readers how I get my pictures bigger. I have never spent the time to explain it though, so I thought I would do a quick blog about it. I do not know if my techniques are wise, so do it at your own risk. For all I know I'm changing code that shouldn't be messed with...

Step 1: After you have uploaded your pictures to blogger, look at the 2 tabs on the upper right hand part of your screen (this is all when you are making a blog) there is a tab named "Edit Html" and a tab named "compose". Click on "Edit Html"

Step 2:

a onblur= "try {parent deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} cat ch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBkOeMSTJspfHo468N1Q9fia5wQHpLmmjGRK_GMTNnUHBXR_nBgpc79TvLGXS-8ieaq3wn-ScERWT7IkokSLPZPdy1KIKCnBtXvIWBqGect7NL6EeigepBHVi45EEwg7-shCa2Q/s1600/claire+tree. jpg">width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blog spot.com/-3gRIdEf6 W8w/TfPVI7ihwOI/AAAAAAAADBA/uSGxiO5gjVY/s400/claire%2Btree.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617067509659320546" border="0" />

This is what you will see for each photo uploaded to blogger- a bunch of code. For each photo you need to find the 2 parts I highlighted in red. The first part "width and height" of the photo, I highlight it and delete all of it. The second part where it says "s400" I change the 4 to an 8. So, it reads "/s800/"

Step 3:
Go back to composing your blog. Your picture should be 2 times bigger. I don't know why or how, but that it how I do it!

Curls

A commonly asked question we get is: "Are those curls natural?" Our answer is, yes, yes, they are indeed natural. I hardly ever curl Olivias hair. If you ever see curls it is almost always natural. I took this picture of her hair the other day- it is at its most "natural" state... no product, no combing or styling, just the way it dries out of the tub if I don't touch it. We could probably make it curlier with the right products and scrunching, and we can easily make it straight with a little combing or blow drying. If you ask me, that is PERFECT hair! I just hope the curls can hold up when it gets longer. It seems when its longer the natural weight of her hair pulls the curls out. I think with the right hair cut we can keep the hair light enough to still curl though ;)
On a side note Liv is so funny. She loves to make us laugh. She now regularly calls me "mommasita". She thinks its hilarious.

Weekend Road Trip

Brett had Memorial day off work, so we thought we would take a quick trip to St.George for the weekend! It ended up being rather memorable and expensive... We stopped off at Zions to do a hike. It was a beautiful day. We forgot to bring Claire a hat and the sun was out, so with such little amounts of hair we thought we had to buy her a hat. It was $25 at the gift shop! Oh boy... but we would rather that then a really burnt head. Turns out the hike we went on was all in shade... brother! If she didn't get the hat so filthy maybe we would have returned it ;)
Turns out this trip was accident prone. It started with Claire getting hit by a tree branch while riding on Bretts shoulders. Her eye was swollen by the evening ;( Poor girl!
Incident #2 happened to me. We were hiking and all of a sudden a huge gust of wind came up. A big piece of bark (about the size of my hand) ripped off a tree and smacked me on the side of my head barely missing my eye! It was so random. I started crying mostly from being a hormonal pregnant lady. I didn't want to cry. I was so embarrassed! Now I have a bruise on the side of my head.. at least I'm not blind ;)
Incident #3 happened later that night... We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and were getting ready to go get dinner. Liv opened the door in her flip flops and ended up cutting the top of her toe open. The door had the whole door jam metal stuff on it, so it sliced right through her big toe. It went straight through the toe nail and was bleeding like crazy. Brett ran off to ask where the ER was and we were off to get her sewed up. About 2 hours later (and still no dinner(it was about (9:30pm) Olivia was all bandaged up. She didn't need stitches after all. Phew! She has half her toe nail gone now and a huge chunk of skin missing, but I think it will heal up fine in a few weeks time.
On Sunday the weather turned cold. We were limited on our activities as it was Sunday and it was chilly outside. We stopped by the temple, played games in our hotel room and tried to play at a park (the cold wind cut it short though). We also went to a random sacrament meeting.


Monday we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2. Claire is still apparently too wild to take to the movies. She could hardly sit for 5 minutes. We also stopped by the outlet stores. Then we headed home. All in all it was a fun get away and we were happy to be with Brett so much. Maybe our next family trip will be better ;)
On a side note I am 27 weeks along in the pictures.