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.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
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.
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...
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.
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!
Size: About 23 lbs & 29 inches tall.
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| 10 months old!! |
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...
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| Back in June at the St.Hilaire family picnic |
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| Playing with Grandma at the Tacoma Children's Museum! |
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.
 |
| All the cousins - Can you tell Peter is waving! =) |
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!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
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. 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!
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.
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| St. Jean Vianney and St. Peter Julian Eymard |
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!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Andrew and Peter - Resemblance?
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| Andrew, 1 year |
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| Peter, 8 mo. |
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
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. :)
Monday, July 2, 2012
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!
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| Bedtime stories with Mr. Herring |
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| Starfish! |
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| Swimming with Mommy |
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Sunday, July 1, 2012
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!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
More Crawling...
Here is a video of Peter crawling that was taken a couple of days ago. He is getting pretty fast!
Monday, June 25, 2012
John is 3!!!!
Hard to believe it's been over a month since John's 3rd birthday! His birthday was on a Wednesday this year, so we arranged to have his party on the following Saturday.
On his actual birthday, he ate on his special birthday plate for every meal. We gave him a few presents - one being an upgrade from his car seat to a booster. He wanted to try it out and go for a car ride. Grandma Stockton and I looked at each other and had the same thought - Baskin Robins! So we took him out for a spontaneous ice cream cone treat around lunch time. It was a lot of fun! Then we had cheese cake for dessert at night! The day was filled with sweets!
We started his party day by going to the Armed Forces Day parade. Uncle Aaron joined us for the fun. There's something about parades... in my adult years I always cry when the first band marches by. I also cried when two elderly men walked by who were Pearl Harbor survivors and when banners displaying recent deceased military heros went by. I'm so proud of our military and honored by the mn en who have served and given their lives for my freedom!
Back to the birthday... John requested a Thomas the Train party. So I did my best to make a cake with Thomas on it. I used this marshmallow fondant recipe to cover the engine and passenger cars. Gravity took it's toll on Thomas' face, but John didn't care.
I also made Thomas the Train cookies to give as birthday favors to John's friends. I'm glad I did because when I was cutting the cake, all the kids said they wanted to eat "Thomas" - I was happy to tell them that they each got to take a Thomas cookie home with them. I made all the faces by following this tutorial.
On his actual birthday, he ate on his special birthday plate for every meal. We gave him a few presents - one being an upgrade from his car seat to a booster. He wanted to try it out and go for a car ride. Grandma Stockton and I looked at each other and had the same thought - Baskin Robins! So we took him out for a spontaneous ice cream cone treat around lunch time. It was a lot of fun! Then we had cheese cake for dessert at night! The day was filled with sweets!
We started his party day by going to the Armed Forces Day parade. Uncle Aaron joined us for the fun. There's something about parades... in my adult years I always cry when the first band marches by. I also cried when two elderly men walked by who were Pearl Harbor survivors and when banners displaying recent deceased military heros went by. I'm so proud of our military and honored by the mn en who have served and given their lives for my freedom!
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| Shout out to Kingston Middle School! I used to march with them! |
Back to the birthday... John requested a Thomas the Train party. So I did my best to make a cake with Thomas on it. I used this marshmallow fondant recipe to cover the engine and passenger cars. Gravity took it's toll on Thomas' face, but John didn't care.
I also made Thomas the Train cookies to give as birthday favors to John's friends. I'm glad I did because when I was cutting the cake, all the kids said they wanted to eat "Thomas" - I was happy to tell them that they each got to take a Thomas cookie home with them. I made all the faces by following this tutorial.
Balloons are probably the best toys for kids to play with at parties. I like having balloons scattered all over the house on the floor, just to be festive. But it seems that the kids always choose to play with the balloons over all the other toys we have. Fine with me! =)
John had so much fun at his party. He still talks about it! Thank you to all his friends who came to celebrate this special day with us!
The best part for me was the morning after his party. Normally when he wakes up, he comes over to my side of the bed to get me up. But not that morning - I heard him open the door and quietly scamper out to the living room. Curious, I got up and found him joyfully playing with his new toys. I remember doing the same thing when I was little - I would wake up and think, "Did I really get all those new toys or was that a dream??"
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| Morning after... pure joy! |
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