DIS GIRL.

My BFF gets home from her mission on FRIDAY!

I'm so excited. I've missed her SOO much. I would've loved to have had her around this last year from hell, but, alas, the Lord had other plans for her... like serving in Korea!

Watch out for lots of duck face selfies comin' your way via Instagram startng FRIDAYYYY!

March goals!!

Obviously the first week of March has already come and gone, which is insane, but I'm making some goals for March anyway.

First, update on my February goals. We cloth diaper (almost) full time now! It took some tweaking and learning and a lot of leaks, not to mention a ton of laundry, but I feel like it's an A+! Plus I'm getting something like 15 more diapers at the end of this month, so that'll mean less laundry haha.

And my diabetes is WAY better. :) I used all 100 strips this month! Go me!

So, March. I want to keep up with the diabetes. I want to start a budget. And stick to it. And I want to work out. I want to sweat every day. And I want to start being on my phone less!

Now it's out in the open. Phew. Wish me luck.

{11 months}

my small baby is neither small nor a baby.

[jack posing with the 200+ blankets we've collected for the nicu. read about it here!]

jack is now 11 months actual age, 8.5 months adjusted age.

he weighs 19 lb 3 oz and is ~29" tall.

he is a fast crawler, cruises the furniture, and is almost ready to start standing, but gets scared and sits down quickly lol.

he's a curious little boy, always after something. especially his parents. there is no peace or quiet.

he just got his 5th tooth.

he says dada, but we're not saying it counts as a word because he doesn't look at carter and say it. and i swear i've heard him say mama, but same thing.

he eats everything we do. we've cut back formula from 30 oz a day to 16 oz a day. he gets a bottle at breakfast, afternoon, and bedtime. for breakfast he usually eats a muffin and fruit or a whole package of quaker oatmeal. lunch is a sandwich of some sort (grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly, tuna) and a veggie (carrots with hummus are a fave), although today we had taquitos and he loved them. dinner is whatever we're eating - his faves are mashed potatoes, spaghetti, and rice.

[first time on the swings! he loved it!]

we've been cloth diapering for a month, and we're finally good at it! we do it full time now! :) the only time he'll wear disposables are probably in the car when we're traveling because that's just easier.

he loves the wiggles and elmo.

he can be bribed to give kisses too. and blows raspberries on us in the shower.

[kissin' his GF, lux]

speaking of, he LOVES water. baths, shower, swimming, drinking.

[carter texted me this when i was with the young women one night. so so sweet.]

February resolutions

Hi, my name is Nicole, and I hate New Year resolutions.

Instead, I do February resolutions!

This February I have 2.

#1 - Take care of myself. My diabetes, specifically. (Lecturers, be gone.) I need to do it for my husband, for my baby, for any future babies, and for myself. I spent $215 at the pharmacy on insulin and strips today, so I'd better use it well!!

#2 - Cloth diapers. I'm going to do another blog next week on how our first week goes, but it has begun! I'm so overwhelmed at the choices and decisions and trial and error, but I'm so excited to a.I) never buy diapers again, a.II) save money, b) make a better, healthier choice for I) Jack, and II) the world Jack is going to grow up in!

Just to give you a money saving example? After 30 months (or 7, 354 diaper changes), disposable diapers add up to about $2,349, with no resale value; cloth diapers add up to $775, with a resale value of $550. That right there is enough for me.

Turning the page..

It's time for a new page in the Peterson book!

Carter has been jumping back and forth between applying for either the Edmonton or Lethbridge City Police Force and going to school for a couple of months - actually since before Jack was born! - and finally decided he wants to go to school to up his chances of success in a police force. He (we, the whole family is going to school really) applied for the Criminal Justice - Policing program at the Lethbridge College (which is one of the best Criminal Justice programs like, ever!) just about 2 weeks ago, and this morning at about 5:30 he came into our room and announced that we had mail. Great. Leave it on the couch, I'm sleeping. "No, we got GOOD mail!" Sure enough, he's been accepted to begin in September 2014!

What does this mean?

It means we'll be moving "home" (since I've always referred to Southern Alberta as home, even after living in Edmonton for 2+ years) in August! Give or take a couple of weeks, depending on where we move to.

It means I may end up going back to work part time, and Jack may end up in some kind of daycare!

It means that I really REALLY need to stop shopping and start saving money.

It means that if I want to invest in cloth diapers, which I do, I need to do it NOW so when we're in school, living on a meager student's budget, we won't have to buy diapers!

It means we get to stay home for Christmas and not feel bad about not seeing any family!

It means no more 6+ hour trips to stay for 2 days, then turn around and come back home.

Southern Alberta to me is home. It's family. I could not be more excited about that aspect of it.

Cons? Lethbridge closes down at like 6pm! There's only one movie theater. I have mom friends up here. I love the ward we live in. I love my calling.

All in all, I think we're ready for a change. And this is a big change!

{10 months}

Jack is turning 1 in two months!! WHAT!? I can't believe a year ago we had just found out what we were having! Bah.

Anyways, Jack had a big month. He mastered the army crawl, sitting up, and now he's starting to stand. Scary business. He is learning how to clap and wave, and he gets 2 solid meals a day, a mix of purees and table food.

He's had scrambled eggs with cheese and peppers, taco bake, muffins, toast, chicken, cucumber, rice, PB&J sandwich, basically anything we eat we cut into small pieces for him.

It's a messy world we live in now.

The big news is that yesterday we went to the Glenrose Neonatal and Infant Follow-Up Clinic, which is a 2-hour clinic all babies who spend time in the NICU go to when they're around 6 months from their due date. Because he was 6 months adjusted at Christmas we postponed a little bit. They evaluated him from 7 months.

He is 18 lb 11 oz, 26" long. He is in the 50%ile for weight, 10%ile for height, and 85%ile in his overall ratios. Aka, he's short and fat.

 For his actual age (10 months) he is in the 10%ile for weight, and not even on the chart for height lol.

They also graded his overall gross motor skills. For 7 months he is above the 90%ile. For 10 months he is the 15%ile, so even if he was a term baby they wouldn't be worried about him!

This boy loves his mama, daddy, and Grandma Martin. And Uncle Max. And Tyler. He wasn't a fan of Grandpa Martin's beard.

He also loves his shape sorting box blocks, and the stacking rings. We blew bubbles yesterday and he was all "Meh".

He likes taking his socks off.

He doesn't like getting in his car seat.

Hopefully we have a walker in the next month!!

"This is my house, I swear!"

Jack and I are down at my mom's house in Raymond because Carter is going out of town to work. But yesterday Carter texted me after work and said he was having the worst day ever, and that he locked his car and house keys in the car. Oops. He had called the landlord, but he was going to be another 2 hours and I didn't want Carter to be sitting out in the cold (although, luckily, it was only like -9) for that long, so I told him to try the windows (since we don't lock them. Well, now we do). The windows in our basement are tiny. Seriously, tiny. But my logic was that to be a legal suite the windows have to be big enough for someone to crawl out of. The reverse of that would be big enough to crawl into! He tracked through the (literally) 3 feet of snow to our kitchen window, and crouched down beside the window to cut the screen when he heard a helicopter overhead. The adrenaline pumping through his system convinced him that they were the police out to find him! He said he stood flat as a board and "hid" against the house. Once he pulled himself together, he knelt back down and cut the screen. Our kitchen window faces our neighbor's gate, by the way. He said he got all the way to his hips into the window when the neighbor's teenage daughter came out the gate, screamed, then ran to the front of the house. Great. The mom popped her head around the corner, then they ran to the car. Carter jumped out of the window and ran after the screaming pair, told them that this was his house, he locked himself out, and luckily the teenager recognized him from the many times she's come into the backyard to get their balls. The mom had 9-1-1 dialed and was about to push send! lol. When he got into the house he called me and said, "I basically peed my pants like 6 times. I thought the police were going to come arrest me for sure!" Poor Carter. Let's just say he won't do that again! lol

2013 Recap

What a year. What. A. Year. And 'tis the season! For a recap! Of 2013!

In {January} we found out we were having a boy!

{February} brought my first (and only) bout of morning sickness (at mid-20 weeks no less!), and our second anniversary!

The beginning/middle of {March} was pretty typical, being pregnant and all that jazz, and then I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia and delivered our miracle boy at 28 weeks.

{April} brought the beginning of our NICU journey. By the end of the month he weighed 2 lb heavier than when he was born, was off the CPap machine, in a big boy bed, and we started nursing!

{May} was my first Mother's Day, a transfer to a newer, nicer hospital, and newborn sized clothing!

Jack was discharged in {June}! Which meant we spent the next month adjusting to having our tiny boy at home. And Carter turned 20!

{July} we had him blessed, and Jack and I spent most of the month hanging out in Raymond. And no more oxygen!

{August} was Jack's first concert(s), weddings, and more time in Raymond, sending Ryan on his mission, and spending the last days with Grandma Atwood.

Grandma passed away at the beginning of {September}, then Jack was suddenly 6 months old!

{October} was Halloween, family pictures, Thanksgiving, and 7 months! Also, Ethan came home.

{November} we started celebrating Christmas (a little early.. oops), went to a NICU reunion, and.. yep.

{December} was, obviously, Christmas! Lots of time in Raymond, and Adrian came home!

We're hoping for a slightly less crazy 2014, but 2013 was filled with surprises, joys, tears, and most importantly - love.

{9 months}

On December 12, Jack weighed 16 lb 14 oz. We'll get another weight on January 2 when we go to get his second Syngais injection.

His first tooth cut through on December 6-ish. An eye tooth and the other bottom tooth followed around December 21. His other eye tooth is almost ready to come through too. Poor boy.

He is still eating 4-5 6 oz bottles a day, but he's also eating 2 meals of solids a day. Toast and yogurt, pureed fruits and veggies, bananas, bites of this or that. There's really nothing he won't eat. Except corn. He spits it out every single time. Turd.

We're at Grandma's, and she borrowed a Jolly Jumper for us - he loves it. LOVES it. He also loves "reading" his Peek-a-Boo Elmo book, and watching Thomas the Train on tv.

He still sleeps like a champ - usually 8-10  hours a night, and 2 naps during the day. We've put a crib projector in his room., and he's asleep by the time the music stops. Every time. 

We celebrated his first Christmas yesterday! He got so spoiled with a ton of clothes, books, and toys. And LOTS of cuddles. Unfortunately, somewhere along the cuddle line, this little man ended up with a nasty runny nose and a Croup-y cough. :(

Here's a bunch of pictures from that fabulous day!

The cutest little Santa EVER.

Mama's new hair! :)

X-mas PJs!

Some of his loot from Grandma M.