All This Time: June 2013

23 June 2013

Cousins (on the Gleaves side)

A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law, Natalie, came to Utah for a visit. We had the privilege of having them over, not once, but twice! The girls got to meet their cousin Peter for the first time. Julia and Amelia loved seeing Peter. One thing they loved doing was putting things on his head and hitting them off of his head. The most favorite thing to put on his head was this blue bow. They thought it was hilarious.

Julia Gleaves, Jonathan with Peter Nelson, Amelia Gleaves

Julia is loving the fact that Peter has the bow on still. Peter...well he could care less. Amelia was a trooper to stay in the photo. She loved playing with Peter too. Also- Jonathan is wearing clothes, we'd just come back from the pool.

(Stolen from Natalie's blog) Here I am helping Julia hold Peter. She would hold him and just laugh and laugh.

We took the girls and Peter to the pool one day- my siblings- David and Allison came along with us too. Julia could have lived at the pool. She had a blast playing in the water. Amelia got cold after a while, so she sat with her mom and tried to see her baby (Natalie is pregnant, and Amelia really wanted to see the baby and have it out.) Peter also got cold pretty quick, and then he took a nap in my arms. So I watched Jonathan and Julia play. We have decided it is more fun to go to the pool with kids. They make it livelier.

We came home from the pool, and Jonathan grilled up some hot dogs and hamburgers. Natalie brought watermelon. We all ate outside. Peter sat in his bumbo seat on the table and we put a piece of watermelon on his tray. He wasn't interested in it for a while, but Amelia kept pointing at it and (I assume) telling Peter to eat it. Amelia can "talk" but you can't necessarily understand it all yet. She would point to the watermelon and say something along the lines of, "Des a botsed uh watermelon." She kept saying that over and over in one of the cutest voices. Every time I could understand the word watermelon, but nothing else...she was quite insistent about it though.

We had a blast seeing Natalie, Julia and Amelia. Someday, the cousins will meet again- maybe when they are older and can have more fun playing together. We are excited to have another cousin as well, coming in October, that Peter can be friends with.

Can I have your autograph?!

It's almost been a month since the last day of school. It is amazing how fast time can pass sometimes. I convinced Jonathan to bring Peter to school for the last hour of school on that final day. The kids all wanted to see him again and I promised they would get to. Now, as it was the last day of school, we didn't have too much we had to do. We had already cleaned the classroom and stacked our desks and chairs before lunch. The kids were in the middle of yearbook signing when Jonathan showed up with the babe. They noticed Peter right away, and many of the kids ooo-ed and awww-ed over him. They watched him and made faces at him to make him smile. They loved him. But, since they were signing yearbooks, the kids didn't stick around for too long before they went to find another friend to sign their yearbook.

Then, one of the boys from another class came up and jokingly asked, "Mrs. Nelson, can your baby sign my yearbook?" I said, "Sure, if you can get him to hold a pencil." Jonathan came to the rescue and helped Peter hold the kid's pencil and then directed the kid to put the page right under the tip of the pencil, and then moved Peter back and forth. This resulted in a faint mark on the paper. The kid was thrilled. He exclaimed to all his friends that he got the baby's autograph. Within minutes, word had spread and Peter had a huge gathering of children, all begging for his autograph. It was adorable. Jonathan was great with all the kids and he helped Peter sign them all. I'm pretty sure Peter signed more yearbooks than I did that day. It was funny to see how excited all of the kids were that the baby had signed their paper. They compared the squiggle marks on their papers- "This one looks like a 9." "He did a 8 on mine!" It looks like a P on my paper!" Peter stole the show, as he frequently does these days. This baby is awesome.

Such a popular baby!

Signing his name

The kids were pretty patient as they waited for their turn.

Here are my 2 name plates from teaching. I can't believe I've taught for 2 years, sometimes it seems like much longer and sometimes it doesn't even seem like half that time. I'd like to go back and do it again someday.

19 June 2013

5 Months

Peter has now made it past the 5 month mark! I have the official 4 month doctor stats which are as follows: At 4 months Peter was- 23.75 inches long (6th percentile), and weighed 13 lbs 10 oz (17th percentile). I weighed him on the bathroom scale yesterday and he was 15 lbs, and I know he is a little taller because he doesn't fit into the same clothes anymore. He wears mostly 3-6 month size. Although the other day, I unknowingly put a 0-3 month onsie on him. I could put it on, but it was like a muscle shirt on him...but he still wore it the whole day (It was a BYU onsie, and we had to represent.)

Developmental Things Peter Can Do Now
- Sitting- he can sit independently for a few minutes, if he is being slightly braced, before he leans too far and topples
- Rolling- he now rolls from his back to his tummy with incredible speed. It has made diaper changing and getting dressed more of a race for mom or dad. It seems though, he has forgotten how to roll from his tummy to his back. I've only seen him do it once in the past week.
- Laughing- he laughs if you tickle him, and sometimes if you make specific noises at him
- Sleeping- Peter usually wakes up twice a night. A few times he only woke up once...that was bliss.
- Grabbing- glasses, hair, pencils, plates, toys, shoelaces, you name it, he can get a hold of it if it's close enough to him, and then he will usually chomp on it.

Peter likes:

Bath-time and pool time (although he can't last too long in the pool because he starts getting cold...poor skinny baby), but he is a champ in the tub. He will splash as much as possible and he doesn't even get sad if water gets on his face.
Food- he is super aware of people eating and will stare at you intently and make upset sounds until you let him taste what you are eating. So far, he has tasted: strawberries, watermelon, banana, peaches, ice-cream, pretzel, cheez-it, jellybean, celery, pasta, bacon, applesauce, broccoli, and grapes. (I'm sure there is more, but that's what I can remember.)
His feet- also a recent discovery. Even more recent a discovery is that he can put them in his mouth and suck on his toes. It's pretty adorable/weird.
Squawking and yelling- he does it not because he is mad, but just because he can. Well, sometimes because he is mad.
Smiling- seriously happy baby.
People- he enjoys being around others and will stay awake longer if there are other people around. When it's just me and him at home he sleeps more.
Outdoors. He will just stare at the leaves on the tree or just constantly look around, very peacefully.

Peter dislikes:

When he rolls over onto his tummy and has decided he has had enough time in that position, but can't remember how to roll back and I don't flip him over fast enough.
Getting out of the bath
Getting dressed- he's fine once the clothes are on, but he doesn't like the process to get there.
Being put in his car seat- again, he's fine once the car starts going, just doesn't like the process of getting there.
Having his fingernails/toenails trimmed
When his binky falls out of his mouth and he can't get it back in

Overall, Peter is a happy, easy baby. He's getting more personality and more energy and he is more fun to play with all the time. And now, the moment most of you look forward to the most...some pictures of the babe.