Peter is Walking!!

Peter has been taking a few steps here and there for a while now, but not officially walking. Last Saturday, October 13th (nine days shy of his birthday!), he took about 6 steps in a row!  He is still pretty unsteady, but making progress every day!

Here is a video that I took today:

Before and After (Pictures Galore!)

Our move has been quite an adjustment for me, as you can tell by my lack of posting!! We moved a little over a month ago on September 15th. I am really enjoying having our own house. The neighborhood and neighbors are wonderful. We live on a cul-de-sac, so there isn't much traffic on the road. There are still boxes and chaos in certain areas of the house, but we are settling in quite nicely. 

The computer is upstairs in a spare bedroom, which is both good and bad - GOOD because I spend way less time on the computer and more time with the boys and BAD because there are some things I'd like to do (blogging, making photo albums, emailing...) and it seems inconvenient now.

Before we moved in, we spent two weeks fixing up the house. New carpet, hardwood floors, and new paint were the major projects. Andrew has done a lot of little things to make the place even better. It is a work in progress though and I imagine we will busy for the next couple years with projects.

Here are some before and after pictures:

Living room - BEFORE

Living room - AFTER

Dining room - BEFORE

Dining room - AFTER

Kitchen - BEFORE

Kitchen - AFTER

Den - BEFORE

Den - AFTER

Kid bathroom - BEFORE

Kid bathroom - AFTER

Boys room - BEFORE

Boys room - AFTER

Master bedroom - BEFORE

Master bedroom - AFTER

Our house...

... is in chaos! We are buried in boxes and random things everywhere. Nothing has a home anymore. But there is good news - one week from tonight, we will be spending our first night in our new home!! And there is SO much to do between now and then that I know the week will fly by. 

The house I mentioned back in July finally went through and we've owned it for almost two weeks. We didn't move in right away because there were some major fixing up that we wanted to do. New flooring and paint were the major improvements that we hired out, but Andrew is doing a lot of little things around the house to get it ready for us. Before and after pictures will be up in a few weeks! =)

The boys and I have been busy packing up our house. Moving is always an eye-opener to how much stuff we own. So much for living simply... we need to work on that. I have already delivered a car-load of donations to St. Vincent De Paul, so that's good.

The hardest part of the moving phase we're in now is having to say "Not now..." all the time to John. I am so excited to say "YES" to him a lot once we settle in. My mom has helped me out a lot by playing with the boys while I pack. 

Thank you, Mom! 

Here are some pictures from around the house today:

John Quotes ~ Vol. 9

John: You're gonna make me cry, Mama!
Me: Why???
John: Because I love you so much!
Me, melting heart: Awe, I love you too!
- - -
My little Washington-ion:
John, wearing a long-sleeved shirt in 70 weather: Mom, can you help me get my coat on?
Me: John, it's warm and summertime. You don't need a coat.
John: I don't want it to be summer! I want to wear my coat!
(Spoken from a boy who thinks rain boots are appropriate for any weather)
- - -
John and I were playing with a little doll house that was my childhood toy.
John: I'm having fun with this house!
Me: I'm glad! Do you like that it was mine when I was little?
John: Yeah, is that when you were a little boy?
Me: No, I was never a boy.
John: Oh.

Peter - 10 Months Old!

(I'm going to copy Kristine's template for sharing monthly information about Peter. Seems easier on my mommy-brain to answer some prompts than writing out all this information in paragraphs...)

Size: About 23 lbs & 29 inches tall.

10 months old!!

Eating habits: He loves trying all new foods, but currently his favorite include little bits of soft fruit (peaches, bananas, strawberries, grapes...), bits of soft cheese, yogurt, rice cereal, oatmeal, and wheatmeal "digestive" biscuits (kind of like teething biscuits). He loves drinking apple "juice" (more like apple-water) from a sippy cup like his big brother. 

Sleeping habits: He usually takes two naps - one around 10am for about an hour and another synced with John's nap around 2-4 p.m.. When their naps line up, which usually happens, I love having some mommy-time! At night time, we put the boys to bed around 8:30 p.m. and it really varies how Peter does. I initially nurse him, rock him to sleep, and lay him in his crib (which is in our room). Usually he wakes up once or twice before I go to bed and when that happens I rock him back to sleep and put him back in the crib. When he wakes up after I go to bed, I just bring him to bed with us and he sleeps between me and Andrew. I still love having him in our bed and he is really cuddly.

His favorite things: pulling out threads from our shag carpet and chewing on them, eating anything and everything off the floor, opening drawers and pulling things out of them, carrying around drumsticks - hair brushes - pens - and anything that could poke him in the eye, and most of all he LOVES his family...

Back in June at the St.Hilaire family picnic

Playing with Grandma at the Tacoma Children's Museum!

His least favorite things: Hmmm, he is a pretty happy guy with a great demeanor. I suppose he doesn't like his hair being washed, and when John tackles him...

Words: He has been saying "Dadada" for a while now but we weren't sure if it was a "word" yet, as in if he was referring to his Daddy or just saying the sounds. But now we are sure he associates those sounds with his Daddy and he has also started saying "Mamama" in just the last few days! Yey!

New discoveries: Standing! He pulls himself up all the time now and tries to take steps (none on his own yet). We predict he will be walking pretty soon.

Places traveled: We just got back from a camping trip and we are going camping again this weekend. He is a pretty "happy camper"! Hahaha... but seriously, he is very good outdoors and in the tent. The main problem is that he is at an awkward stage: He wants to be down crawling, but I don't really want him playing in the dirt! So he has to be held the whole time. I think when we go again this weekend, I'm going to see if we have room in the car for the pack-n-play.

All the cousins - Can you tell Peter is waving! =)

The crappy stuff: I know Peter has sensitive skin, but I just don't know what triggers his rashes. He recently had a rash break out on only his legs and it stuck around for a couple weeks. I also have to be really careful about his sun exposure because he inherited my fair skin that burns really easily. Poor guy!

How big brother is doing: John loves Peter so much and they get along really well. Peter is almost to the point where he and John can play together. John loves to make Peter laugh and smile. Sometimes John will knock Peter over when he is standing - so that's no fun. Overall, they get a long together very well. It's so fun to see their relationship blossom!

How Mommy and Daddy are doing: We are loving this precious time with Peter. He is at such a fun stage! It's hard to believe that he will be one year old in just two short months. And those months will pass quickly because we are preparing to MOVE! We are supposed to close on our house on Monday, so this next month will be especially hectic. Hopefully we will be all settled by Peter's birthday and we can throw a big party for our sweet little boy!

Happy Feast Day, Peter!

There were quite a few posts I intended to write after Peter was born, but never got around to it. One of which was how he got his name. Today is a fitting day to write about it because it just so happens to be his feast day!

A year ago, on August 1st, Andrew and I were up one night discussing baby names. We were pretty set on "Peter" as a first name, but weren't quite settled on a middle name. There were a few names in the running, however one stood out to us that night: "Julian" - after St. Peter Julian Eymard.

St. Peter lived in the 1800s and was a French contemporary to St. Jean Vianney (John's namesake and patron). Supposedly, the two Saints even met each other! We really like the idea of our two boys having patrons that were "friends." For us, this is a symbol of our hope and prayer that our boys will grow up in loving friendship with each other.

St. Jean Vianney and St. Peter Julian Eymard

St. Peter is also the founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, which promotes adoration and Eucharistic devotion. We pray that our Peter will also have a deep devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and always remain faithful to Christ.

So that night, we went to bed quite content with the name "Peter Julian." The next day we were chatting while Andrew was at work and talking about the name we chose. We were curious about when his feast day was, so I looked it up. It was THAT day! We couldn't believe that we had chosen his name the day before his feast day, which was actually the day he died, in 1868. That was confirmation for us!

St. Peter Julian Eymard ~ Pray for us!

Andrew and Peter - Resemblance?

Andrew, 1 year 

Peter, 8 mo.

We think Peter looks more like my side of the family, but it's still cute to see him in Daddy's clothes! I bet John would have had more of a resemblance - too bad I didn't think about doing the comparison until now.

Daddy's boy

Peter loves his Daddy! And I love seeing them together. When Daddy comes home from work at the end of the day, Peter squeals with joy. His favorite sound to make is "da-da-da" and I think it's no coincidence. :)

Parish Camp

Our parish has an annual "Family Camp" every Father's Day weekend. We went this year and really enjoyed it. It was at a YMCA camp in Gig Harbor. We stayed in a cabin with the Herrings. The kids had a blast! There was so much to do. We went canoeing, swimming, rock wall climbing, and we got to see marine life in a touch tank. John had such a good time and didn't want to go home. He really is an outdoorsy kind of kid. He wouldn't complain if we played outside the whole day!

Bedtime stories with Mr. Herring

Starfish!

Swimming with Mommy

Our House?

We should hear very soon if this house is going to be ours. We made an offer on it about a month ago and, since it's a short-sale, we are now waiting for approval from the lender. The whole process has really been a lesson in patience! Please pray that it all works out. When I know for sure that we are buying the house, I'll post more pictures!