How it All Turned Out

So my last post was a little busy, but I couldn't choose from all my favorite pictures and not have a 4 page blog post.  Christmas was fun this year...remember we had Christmas with a Twist?  It was all revealed to us on Christmas Eve when my sister and fam were going to be with us.  To reveal, we just went around and guessed who we thought had ours.  If you got it right, you got your present.  I don't think anyone but Justin got it right on the first go round. It ended up being:

Emily -> Justin from Harbor Freight
Clint -> my Dad from Dick's Sporting Goods
Justin -> Clint from Academy
Erin -> my Mom from TJ Maxx
Bob/Dad -> Erin from Home Depot
Darla/Mom -> Emily from Bath & Body Works

It actually turned out really well and everyone did a great job with their gift buying.  My dad got me this:

I love it!  I have it on my table right now but I might move it to my fireplace hearth and add some sticks or something...I need to search Pinterest for some fun ideas!

My grandparents are here from Indiana and we have been spending some time with them. They came to our house for dinner last night and we had a good time hosting them!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are enjoying some good family time.  I have a feeling we'll be going to spend Haylie's Christmas money on a Mickey Mouse - since Santa failed and only brought Minnie. :)

Christmas 2012

We had lots of fun with the Peterson gang this Christmas!  With love, from our family to yours.

Christmas - Full Swing

We have been busy this holiday season.  We've gone to see lights, Santa, and have done lots of shopping.  Last Saturday, we went with the cousins to visit our friend Allison and the new Devon building (the realllllly tall one that doesn't even fit in my picture) for some more holiday cheer.

It was a beautiful day and we got to enjoy a little of Bricktown as well.  I love OKC and wish I spent more time downtown.

We've also had Christmas parties, been baking for neighbors and our mailman, mailed Christmas cards and done some wrapping!

The blue dress was made by my Gramma Peterson for my cousins girls who then passed it down to Haylie.  It looks adorable!

Jace has also been around for all of this but he mostly is working on feeling better.  His top teeth are coming through and I think we are mostly done with feeling poorly.  His spirits are so much brighter (except when he has to eat veggies) and I like being around him now!

And Miss Priss is now onto Phase 3 of her "loves."  First it was Elmo, then Dora (kind of still is) but now we have a new obsession.  Minnie Mouse.  She keeps asking to go to Target or Walmart to go get Minnie.  I told her that she needed to wait because Santa might bring it to her...

And thankfully, Santa knew right where to go.  Yup.  To Walmart.

Hand-deer hat

Since this week we are home recovering from RSV (both kids) and an ear infection (Haylie), we have had lots of time to be together.  Which is wonderful - except this was a busy week full of errands, activities and Christmas shopping.  Ohhh well.  Life goes on.

So today instead of trying to entertain my kids by doing chores, I let Haylie get a little crafty.  I looked up on Pinterest a quick, easy craft and lo and behold we made this:

It's a reindeer hat..but she calls it a "hand-deer hat."  Fitting.

Then she was itching to paint so we decorated some Christmas trees made from construction paper.

She did a really great job! 

And this picture-gem is just for fun...because he is napping off his cranky-ness. 

 

Photography Lessons

We got a new digital SLR camera and I'm still trying to figure out how the dang thing works.  We went to a Christmas parade the other night and about every other photo would take.  I guess I need to spend some QT with the manual...

So I was playing around with it the other day (using it for Jace's 10 month pics) and got some other gems.

This kid needs a hairbrush.  And some chapstick.  And maybe some tweezers...Pronto.
(but she is still beautiful.)



She LOVES her daddy. Super excited to watch him through the window, wishing she could be out helping.

Our furry child.  Love her, even though we had a recent scare of fleas.  All is right in the world again and she is still my sweet kitty.

And I couldn't resist one more of my Jacers.  

So, anyone want to come teach me how to use our camera?  I still have a long way to go.

Please and thanks.

10 months old and counting...

12.2.12 Jace turned 10 months!

Oh Jace.  Not only did he just survive a crazy rash, I also noticed that he has 4 (yes, 4) teeth about to pop through on the top.  I knew he was teething pretty bad but was not expecting a whole mouthful of teeth at once.  Since this is happening, he is just...well...cranky.  He does have good moments but most of the time he just doesn't like you. Or his position in life.

But we are making big changes!  With his teeth also comes pushing himself all around the floor.  He may go backwards, he may be crying the whole time, but he is moving. His appetite has changed a little in that he only eats a little bit and likes soft foods...but who can blame him? He really is into playing - with anything he can touch, pull, etc.  His hands are everywhere!  Haylie doesn't like his new interest in things (*her things*) and yells, "No Sir!" at him about 30 times a day.  Well, can't blame her for trying to be polite...but that often lends itself to a talk about sharing, or not putting your stuff in his face, or just leave him alone.  Oh, the joys of being a sibling.

In two short months I won't have a baby anymore.  Bring it on!

3 Going on 10

12.1.12.  Haylie turned the big 3.

I have been planning this party for awhile since I *thought* it was going to be cold and needed to find a place indoors for the gobs of friends she wanted to invite.  I didn't know it was going to be 75 degrees in December.  So we got our name on the calendar for Unpluggits back in September. 

We started the morning with a cupcake breakfast and opening of presents.  This girl was pretty excited.

Then we hauled it to the store to get balloons (party favors) and then to the place to set up.


So far this was the easiest party I've done - especially since I didn't have to clean my house.

Jace got to hang out with Mimi & Umpy for most of the party...until he was about to pass out from sleepiness.


Haylie and her friends played for awhile, then we ate cupcakes and snacks and then opened presents!


Unpluggits is great.  There is a huge room of indoor play equipment, with other things like a pirate ship with plastic balls, an air hockey table, sand table, a smaller play area for toddlers, etc.  Lots to do!

Then out in the main room, there is play-doh, painting, foosball, crafting, etc.  You could be busy for hours.

 Do you remember the Bible Study babies?  Yes, we get them together every once in awhile.  It's getting harder to do, but I truly love that we can see all 4 of these kids grow together.

Haylie and her friends - she had a blast with each of them!  Glad they all came...thanks for helping us celebrate our sweet little girl...who keeps asking when she'll be 10.  *sigh*

The Rash Attacks

Remember when Jace got an ear infection over Thanksgiving and we started him on antibiotics?  Well, that antibiotic was amoxicillin and we started him on that Friday- 11/23.  We gave it to him twice a day for about 5 days.  He started acting much better the day after his first two doses and kept getting better...until he just started to decline in his attitude again.  I was starting to wonder if the meds weren't working for some reason.

Wednesday night, 11/28, I saw a faint rash on his back and tummy.  I was a little nervous about it and even asked a friend (who is a pediatrician)  at church what she thought it was.  She asked me if I had given him anything new and at that point  - no, I hadn't.  Didn't think about the medicine he was on since he had been on it for almost a week!

The next day, I go get him from his bed since he is sobbing and this is what I find...

Face, body, arms, legs, ears, head...you name it, it was covered in a red rash.  I freaked out and called Justin crying.  Then I emailed Jace's doctor with these pictures...not knowing what the heck it was!  Then I came to my senses and had to send him a second email telling him that Jace was on the amoxicillin. 

Our doctor is awesome and emailed me right back.  Said it was an allergic reaction to the drug and to stop it immediately.  Thankfully I had forgotten to give it to him the night before!

Since I thought Jace still might have an ear infection, I asked for an appointment that morning and got in an hour later.

At this point, the rash was at it's worst.  Jace screamed the entire appointment, but he was given a steroid shot and we were on our miserable way.

He slept hard from about 10 am - 1:30 pm.  Then he woke up...still miserable.  Gave him some Benadryl and tried to get him happy.  He just wasn't. The rest of the day I have no idea what happened because I was trying to get him to fall asleep or eat or just be calm.  He was miserable - I was exhausted.  So thankful Justin came home when he did. We gave Jace a bath and put him to bed.  We hoped we were in the clear.  About 10pm, Jace woke up screaming and we tried to calm him down...for the rest of the night until about 1am was him falling asleep in our arms, waking up immediately and squirming, crying & fighting against us. Finally I grabbed him and put him in the car so we could drive around Oklahoma City for awhile.  Convinced he was asleep, I drove home and he fell asleep back in his crib. About an hour later, he woke up again screaming and acting crazy again.  I wanted to cry - I was just so exhausted.  We wrestled with him again and finally gave him some Tylenol.  About 3:45 am is when he finally calmed down and about 4 is when he fell back asleep in his crib.  

I'm not sure how Justin functioned the next day.  Haylie woke up at some point that morning and I let her watch Dora in bed with me until Jace woke up around 9:30.  Ugh.

He looked a little better, but still had lots of red spots on him...and it seemed like they were spreading out all over him.  But he didn't seem to mind the rash as much.

On Saturday, he looked MUCH better and on Sunday you could barely tell he just had a major rash attack.

It was just a sickening experience.  We knew there was a possibility that he could be allergic with him never taking this drug before, but never thought it would take almost 5 days to see the reaction.  I am thankful our doctor ROCKS and is so responsive. I am thankful nothing serious happened to my baby boy and we only had one rough night. But most of all, I'm thankful he is feeling so much better and his skin looks normal again.

And now we know never to give him any type of penicillin again.  Because neither one of us can handle it!

Thanksgiving

I'm more than a week behind, but I still want to document Thanksgiving.  We took a roadtrip to Missouri to see Justin's family.  The ride there was crazy for the first 4 hours.  Jace would not stop crying and acting cranky so I finally climbed in the back to try to keep him happy and ended up with major car sickness.  Didn't throw up but wanted to.  I was never so happy as to get to Emporia, KS so we could have a pit stop.  After that he finally fell asleep so it was smooth sailing for the next 3 or so hours.

Thanksgiving Day:

Haylie wanted to help make a cherry pie.

A rare smile from Jace on this day...he was not very happy.

The boy cousins!

If you thought H looked like Justin...

Ok, I lied.  Another happy picture of Jace - but only because he is eating.

Friday was a busy day.  Jace was acting weird...not normal, screaming a lot.  After Justin *tried* to look at his ears and was unsuccessful since Jace FREAKED out, we went to see a friend who was an ENT to get Jace's ears checked out.  Quick (screaming) check later and it was confirmed that his ear looked concerning and likely to have an ear infection.  Poor baby - no wonder he was screaming - he was in pain!  So a quick trip to get some antibiotics and we felt like we were set.  Next day, he seemed so much better!  I had my baby back.  Or so I thought...

The rest of the trip was fun!  We celebrated Christmas with the fam since we wouldn't see them again until 2013!  It was a great, relaxing weekend. Lots to be thankful for!

Renter Woes

We are almost a year into owning the duplexes.  We have had lots of ups and downs with these 4 units.   Lots of "old house" problems that needed fixing right away, time spent painting and fixing up, bug spraying, carpet cleaning, lawn mowing, etc.  Our first renter called about 2 hours after we put the sign in the yard and was ready to move in that day.  We couldn't be luckier.

Except now, said renter got a dog, has had 3 break ins, has people constantly "hanging out" at his house, and now isn't paying rent.

Two notices to quit, lots of calls and texts, time wasted waiting for him and being told by his friend that we weren't allowed in the house - we were through being the nice guys.

We filed papers at the courthouse and had a court hearing this past Tuesday.  It was our first time dealing with this and the process was a little intimidating.  We asked lots of questions and figured it out by experience.

We sat waiting for the judge to go through the formalities.  We then had time to discuss things with "the other side" to work things out.  So out in the hallway we went to see if we could avoid a hearing. We listened to his sob story and gave him a week to move out (being that we are either really stupid or very generous people with good hearts) and have a continuance next week for the judge to hear our case if our renter doesn't follow through.

Ugh.  There has been a lot of stress, worrying, and frustration through this whole process.  But we are learning as we go and finding out that being the nice guy only gets you so far.

My husband likes to give people the benefit of a doubt.  I, on the other hand, think rules need to be followed and if you don't, sorry.  I think there are pros and cons to each way of thinking...but in this case, enough is enough.

Hopefully, everything will work itself out.  No more mess with our renter because he WILL move out and we will just learn from this experience.

And it will never happen again...right?!?!

Thankful for...

This month is a month of thankfulness.  Lots of friends on Facebook are doing a day by day list of what they are thankful for.  Since I never started on day 1, it's a bit late to start now so here is my list of what I'm thankful for.

1. Justin.  Without him, I wouldn't laugh nearly as much, have someone to talk things through or find out random facts every day.  I'm better because of him.
2. Haylie.  My baby girl, the light of my life.  She is smart, caring, funny, ridiculously beautiful and all things wonderful.  Can you tell? I love that girl.
3. Jace.  My chunk chunk.  My baby boy.  I was nervous about having a boy - but I love that kid so much it surprised me!  His smile makes my whole day brighter. I love seeing his personality grow each and every day.
4. My parents.  They live within 12 minutes of me and are willing to watch my kids or help me out in a bind at a moments notice.  I'm finding out you can never thank your parents enough - especially after raising you.
5. My sister & her fam. I talk to my sister usually once a day.  Running ideas by her, planning a get together or shopping trip, I feel weird if I don't talk or text with her every day.
6. Extended family - in laws, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...I am very thankful for the family I was born into and the one I was married into.

*Now let's get serious.*

7. Friends who text me to see whats up or bring me a Sonic drink just because.
8. Sound machines who help my daughter fall asleep faster and keep her sleeping longer.
9. Kitty snuggles.
10. In-laws who will let Haylie come for a weekend and let me have a break.
11. Naps. Self-explanatory.
12. Cows.  Who make milk.  So I can stop nursing.
13. Cell phones.  So I can stay connected through calls, texts and emails.
14. Music. To help me through the day or bring back wonderful memories.
15. Picture albums.  I can look back through them and relive wonderful (or not so wonderful) times of my life.  Gothic my sophomore year?  Yikes. Let's burn those memories. My sister gave me a haircut?  Wow - let's forget that!
16. Books. I love getting lost in a different time and a different place.
17. Washing machines.  I'm not sure how people survived without them.
18. Giggles.

I could keep going on about random things but mostly, I'm thankful for Jesus - for giving his life for me and for the grace he provides so through him, my family and I will be together in Heaven.

Impromptu Shoot

It was a beautiful day on Monday! I thought it was a great time to snap some pictures of the kids.  Jace is now 9 months old and I didn't have any real good ones since my friend Peyton took some in August. So I spread out a blanket and did an impromptu "shoot".

 We have Windows Live Gallery and it easily let me play around with hues and such.

Haylie wanted to join in too.  She was a very good model and did everything I asked her.

It kind of looks like she has a beard.  Whoops!

My new favorite of her.  I wish I had gotten a better one of them together, but Jace was not in the mood by then.  We might have to try another day!