Blessing day for Peter

This past Sunday was Peter's blessing day at church.  For our friends who aren't familiar with this, after a baby is born, he or she is given a special blessing by a member of their family, usually the father, or a family friend, or a church leader.  It is similar to a christening but different than a baptism, and it is both an official presentation of the baby's name to the church members and an opportunity to give a special blessing to the baby.

Here is our own little blessing in his dapper outfit.  Mom and I sewed this together while she was here when he was born.  The vest portion is made from the leftover silk fabric from my wedding dress.  Isn't he the most handsome little guy?

"Yay!  It's my blessing day!"

"Yikes.  I'm kinda nervous.  Do I have to do anything?"

"Ooohhh, I just have to lie there?  I can do that."

 

"No one can resist me."'

Matt gave Peter a beautiful blessing, and I'm so thankful for his worthiness to perform this special ordinance. 

We're glad Marianne and John could come and share the day with us too.

Birthday boy Seth

"I am six today"

It's hard to believe our little big boy is 6 years old! 

birthday Lucky Charms

We were out of the house most of the day because of people looking at the house and us meeting our realtor, but he was happy to go to school and then play at the park afterward for most of the afternoon.  Dinner at Kidd Valley, a quick stop at the church for a scout court of honor, home for baths and jammies, and THEN it was time for presents and treats.  He asked when his friends were coming over for a party, and when I told him we were going to have a family party this year, he just said, "OK that sounds great."  Such an easy-going little pleaser.

Reading his birthday cards himself!

Can you tell he loves Star Wars Legos??

Yes, there are only 5 candles and yes, 3 of them are pink.  It's what's left in the house after packing up most of the kitchen.  Don't judge.

At 6 years old, Seth:

*loves to put things together...puzzles, legos, tractors, cars.

*has taken off with reading.  His kindergarten class did early reading assessments, and he tests above his grade level.

*likes to play checkers with Dad.

*tells me all about the friends he makes at school and on the bus.  He's unafraid to walk up to someone new and ask their name and if they want to play.

*is very thorough and serious about coloring.  He'll spend 30 minutes coloring in every single thing on a page in his coloring book.

*is smart, clever, a little bossy, loving and ALL BOY!

***Happy Birthday, Seth!  Your family loves you!***

12 of 12 - September

1 - Kind of a weird photo, but it feels so good to have my ankles back, as opposed to the swollen, tight imposters that took over the last few months of my pregnancy.

2 - Check out my guns!  I'll mess you up.

3 - The kids like to mix their cereals, so every morning, this is typically what the kitchen counter looks like.

4 - This is the view from the front doors of the library.  I'm so happy voters chose to keep the Cedar River Library in its current location.  It's the only public library in the country that is built to span a river.  Pretty soon we'll be able to look down and watch the salmon making their way up the river to spawn.

5 - This cute little bronze statue of a boy reading a book is a favorite of the kids at the library.  We usually go to story time at the smaller Highlands library on Tuesdays, but we'll probably start going Wednesdays because of Lydia's preschool schedule.

6 - The outside of the house is almost done getting painted.  Goodbye light-gray-that-almost-looks-lavender-on-a-cloudy-day color and hello "Weathered Shingle" with creamy white trim.

7 - A very close up of a project I'm working on, without giving too much away in case the recipient reads this post.

8 - Bye Seth!  Have a good day at school!

9 - Lydia likes to "help" when I'm in the kitchen.  Today we made chocolate waffle cookies for an after-school treat.

10 - Matt had a work function until late tonight, so dinner was mac n' cheese and nectarines.  Does it look like the kids feel cheated eating an easy dinner?  Sometimes it seems like the less effort I put into dinner, the more the kids like it.  Anyone else feel that way?

11 - Another picture with me and my little cutie Peter.  I don't know how to look normal when I take a picture of myself in the mirror.

12 - The best shot of the day.  He's a good little sleeper for just being 8 weeks old.  He wakes up a couple of times a night and goes right back to sleep.  I sure love him!  

School Days

September 5th was Seth's first day of Kindergarten, and boy was he ready and excited to go!  We got up and had a yummy breakfast and got a few things done until it was time to catch the bus just after noon.  The bus stop is just at the house across the street, so already we love the convenience!

New clothes?  Check.  Giant backpack?  Check.  Cutest cheesy smile?  Check.

Here comes the bus!

Bye, Mom!

I can't believe I didn't even cry a little bit, and I'm usually the biggest bawl baby of all.  All morning, I was prepared to lose it a little bit, but I was so happy and excited for him. 

Lydia was a little lost without him for a few hours.  The minute we walked in the house she would ask "Where's Seth" and "When is Seth coming home?" about every 10 minutes while he was gone.  I didn't quite realize how much I depended on him for her entertainment.

When we met him at the bus stop, he bounded off the bus and said school was "amazing" and that he already has two new best friends, Solomon and Emily.  It's going to be a great year!

~~~

Then on September 11, Lydia headed off to her first day of preschool.  She has a backpack "just like Seth" (minus the princesses on his) and was ready to get going.  Her new BFF Miriam is going to preschool there too, so she was excited to see her. 

 When we got there, she put her shoes in the shoe bin, hung up her backpack and was so ready to jump into things that she almost forgot to say goodbye to mom!  She loves Miss Tammy and wears her backpack around the house all day and asks when it's time to go to preschool again.

12 of 12 - August

1 - Good morning, little Peter!  He's starting to see more things, and something to the side of him was capturing his attention, no matter how many times I turned his head toward the camera.

2 - Seth loves to draw, and this is a picture of me.  Yep, that's Matt off to the side, watching the gold medal men's basketball game.

3 - I've said "no" enough times to making pancakes for breakfast, so today it was "yes!"  Here's my little helper getting ready to help flip the first Mickey pancake.

4 - I had a few free moments to make a couple of quilting passes on my latest project.  I'm starting to have second thoughts about quilting a 2" diamond grid all over the whole thing.  Too late now...I'm committed!

5 - While waiting to go to church, Seth wrote down the words to "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."  Boy, this kid is ready for school!

6 - It was mine and Peter's first day at church since he was born, and we just stayed for Sacrament Meeting before coming home to rest.  He loves sleeping in his bouncy seat, and I checked in on him to capture his tiny fingers flashing some baby gang signs.

7 - Dinner tonight was t-bone steaks, new potatoes, corn on the cob, and a little pile of beans and squash from our garden...all cooked on the grill.  It's too hot to turn on the stove!

8 - 82 degrees INSIDE the house.  The dog days of summer are here, and those of us without A/C are feeling it!  It just means we spend more time outside on the patio.  We'll be missing these days come February!

9 - Time for bed, and Seth read us all a story.

10 - I promise I looked cuter earlier in the day before church, but I didn't think about taking a picture then.  This is after the make-up is off, and the hair is pulled back.  But the other kids were in bed, Matt was at a church meeting, and I wanted a picture of me and my little guy together.

11 - Watching the Olympics closing ceremony.  Some parts were pretty bizarre, but I did like the celebratory feeling, and the appearance by the Pet Shop Boys.  Took me back to 1984!

12 - 10:00 at night and he's ready to play.  This is the first time I've put his toys on the bouncy seat, and you can tell by his big eyes that it's quite the attraction.

Peter's Grand Entrance

A little story about the newest addition to our family via timeline:

Wednesday, July 18

- All day long I was feeling very mild and inconsistent contractions.  It's more than I'd been feeling, so I was hopeful that this might be the day!

- 8:00 pm - Matt went with the Young Men and Young Women on a hike, and I called to tell him that if there was anyone who needed to come back early, he should volunteer to go back with them rather than stay the whole time.

-10:00 pm - Still feeling contractions but I was wanting them to get going, so we decided to go for a walk.  While we were out, the contractions were stronger but still far apart.  I still thought things might pick up, so I got ready for bed to get a little rest in case we were going to be up all night.

-11:00 pm - Contractions 10 minutes apart.

Thursday, July 19

-12:00 am - Contractions 7 minutes apart.

-12:30 am - Contractions 3 minutes apart.  Let's go to the hospital!  We said goodbye to my mom and got in the car.  On the way there, I felt every bump in the road, and labor went into fast-forward-crazy-strong-contraction mode.  I couldn't tell where one ended and the next began.

-1:00 am - Reached the hospital and walked inside.

-1:10 am - Checked in and we were led to our room.  The on-call doctor was paged when they discovered I was dilated to 10 cm, but he wasn't answering.  The nurses were getting the room and equipment ready.  I just barely got myself on the bed when I needed to push.  The nurses said to try and not push (yeah right).  Five seconds later, I said, "I can't NOT push.  Here he comes!"

-1:23 am - Peter Grant Orton came into the world, slip n' slide style, with no one to catch him except the hospital bed.  The nurses looked at each other for a couple of seconds, a little bewildered that there was a baby there.  The doctor finally showed up to help finish up.  I think I should get a discount for delivering my own baby!

Peter Grant Orton

8 pounds 15 ounces

21 1/4" long

  

The rest is blissful brand-new-baby history.  My dear friend Carrie came to visit and brought her camera along.  I'm ever thankful to her for capturing the most tender images of little Peter just hours after being born.

My personal favorite.  I get weepy when I look at it, remembering cuddling my baby boy in a few moments of a quiet afternoon.

12 of 12 - July

1 - No that's not the curve of the earth.  That's my 9-month pregnant belly...hopefully it'll be gone in a week!  (Posting this today on the 18th still no baby at 39 3/7 weeks along.  We're getting anxious!)

2 - Three more days until Grandma gets here - yay!

3 - My best friend these days.  I take this little fan wherever I go in the house to keep cool.

4 - I took a little rest and after a while started to hear Lydia gently playing the piano singing "I Am a Child of God."  What a nice way to wake up!

5 - The expiration date on the milk is my due date.  I'm on the home stretch!

6 - So that in February I can look back and know that sunny, cloudless days do exist in Washington.

7 - Overrun by lettuce!  Time for salads every night, and that's OK with us!

8 - Eating dinner in our new favorite place...the patio!

9 - Lydia likes to make sure she looks good, even if it's at Seth's t-ball game.  She loves getting Mom's lip gloss out of my purse.

10 - After getting prettied up, Lydia went to help Dad coach at 3rd base.  That lasted about 2 minutes before she was off to play at the playground.

11 - My favorite photo of Seth at t-ball.  Look at his cute, chubby, determined face.  Love that little boy!

12 - We went for a drive down by the lake after the game, and we were treated with a glorious sunset.  I so love living here.