Summer Already? Yes, Indeed!

Dixie Rock

It feels like summer already here in Sunny St. George! Come Visit!

Creative Side of Steve

So.....Steve cooks, scrapbooks, AND designs invites/announcements!!! Ha ha....these are his ones he's designed....it begins with his amateur to his most recent work of art:)

Randomness

I wanted to give ya'll an update in Peyton. He is doing SO SO much better! And are so happy to say he is cleared for RSV. No more of his cough, running nose, fever...nothing! How I love this warm weather in St. George. Everyday we enjoy playing catch in the backyard, playing on the grass, and taking walks. We really like it down here a lot. And as of right now, feel this will be home for the next 5+years. Peyton is SO close to crawling it's ridiculous. He gets in the crawling position and then flattens back out on his tummy! I want him to begin crawling so bad, but at the same time am not ready to proof the house yet. :) His two front upper teeth have cut through. I can't believe he's going to be turning ONE in like 6 weeks! Ps. for you all who have had kids, how did you personally come to know you were suppose to begin trying again? (maybe too personal, sorry:))

I have such an awesome experience coming my way this week...a convert from Georgia is coming to Utah and we are doing baptisms for the dead in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple....SO EXCITED! How amazing it will be to witness someone I taught the gospel to doing work for the dead. I've done baptisms with her before in the Atlanta, Ga temple. I want to go to Georgia right now SO BAD! But know it's a little unrealistic right now. Sometimes I wonder- does anyone remember me? Then at a moments notice am reassured from a text or a phone call from a convert letting me know how much they appreciate me.

So we all have a thing that we are overly obssessive about whether it be....decorating, cleaning, punctuation or grammar, gardening....well, mine is scrapbooking. This all began a little after we got married, I always feel so inclined when we take pictures to first save them on our computer then to develop them and scrapbook them. I think this could have started when I saw the commercial of these parents pictures being destroyed or something and they had their 4 year old standing in a crib and the parents were taking pictures trying to recapture the photos they had lost and the commercial was for some computer talking about the need to save your pictures etc. Sometimes I find myself second guessing if all my pics are accounted for....I know, I know I sound crazy! But just love pictures and the memories that are created from them. A little obsessive! Just out of curiousity- what's your thing?

Poor little guy:(

Peyton has RSV.......:( His test came out positive for it. I had a cold and then he must have got it from me. For RSV the only things you can do is vapor rub on their back, feet, and chest especially before they go to bed at night, a humidifier, nose drops along with suctioning. He's been so so clogged we've had to take him to a Bronchiolitis Clinic for them to suction him. What happens is they take a catheter and drop it up his nose and suck out all the crap. Needless to say he DOES NOT like it. When babies have RSV they have little to no desire to eat especially their bottle (cuz they can't breathe right) So we get him suctioned in the morning at the Clinic before he is able to eat his bottle in the morning. He's already so slender!!!:) So they have now discovered he has an ear infection too. So he's on medication for that too. We aren't able to go to church with him or any shopping centers of any kind for how contagious he is. The doctor has told us his cough can linger for a good month.....oh his cough is so so sad sounding. Nevertheless, he is still sleeping through the night! Hopefully he will get better soon!!

Baby Contest

This is the picture we submitted

So..we entered Peyton into Regis & Kelly's Beautiful Baby Search about two months ago. The winner gets $125,000 towards a 4 year college education and a year supply of Gerber foods. Unfortunately, he was not chosen as one the top 10 semi-finalists....:(

BUT.....

his picture will be on the show this week!! What day? We don't know...so we have the show recorded for each day this week:) Just something Kinda fun & exciting.

9 MONTHS

ZIONS NATIONAL PARK

PEYTON TURNED 9 MONTHS ON FEBRUARY 13TH!!!

STATS:

WEIGHT: 16 LBS 11 OUNCES~ 3RD PERCENTILE

HEIGHT: 28 3/4 INCHES~ 70 PERCENTILE

HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE:17.9 INCHES~ 56 PERCENTILE

I know what you are probably thinking....holy cow 3rd percentile!! Yep, we have one slender little dude. When entering into our visit the nurse says "Whoa, he weighs as much as my 6 month old!" In my mind I was like...hmmm...thanks. Peyton is categorized as a high-risk baby. He's 16 lbs but with his height he should be at 21 lbs. After going over his feeding schedule with our doctor he did not seem worried at all. We just need to try to beef him up a bit! He said to us just because he's slender does not mean he's unhealthy...so that put me more at ease. A coorelation between mission and having a baby is~ don't stress about the numbers! So true!! A couple of new things to us, St. George tap water doesn't contain fluoride like up North. So we have to start giving him fluoride drops every day. As for as his eating, we need to introduce him to meats. And power pack his bottles. And as for as movement skills, next step is for him to begin crawling. He's been sitting independently for six weeks now. As for everything else, he's hitting every growth milestone that he needs to. It's crazy how pregnancy goes by so slow but when they are out of your tummy it goes by so fast!!We love him to pieces!

Oprah

I was watching the episode the other day where Oprah had on the children of the mother who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart and Oprah was talking to the children about their opinions of their mother with this situation and their was a comment made by Oprah that really hit me it was:

"BEING A MOTHER SHOULD BE THE HARDEST THING TO DO, WHEN DONE WELL"

I then began thinking about this statement. That when doing a good job as a mom, it should be the hardest thing to do. I then asked myself: Do I really feel being a mom is a hard thing? As I pondered about this question and came to this answer that- Yes, I feel it's complicated here and there but given the fact that Peyton is not crawling or walking yet and is very easily entertained for hours sitting on a blanket with a bunch of toys surrounding him...(I guess I must have a very easy going baby) And also have a husband that is here the majority of the day and ALWAYS switches off with me doing feedings, diaper changes...and what not and who always checks to make sure I'm not overwhelmed. I came to find out that- As for right now in my life I don't feel it's the hardest thing to do. Maybe I will feel later that being a mom is the hardest thing to do...when I'm pregnant again or sick....or when peyton is running everywhere...this statement can also change due to what season you are at in your life. Maybe it's because I have been through much harder things in my life? (school, mission, callings) But when answering to the statement No...not right now...I then feel like I am not doing the best I can....since the statement says....WHEN DONE WELL.....motherhood should be a hard task. Although I do feel it's hard but so far not the hardest thing I've done. Nevertheless, this is Oprah here...it's not doctrine, but an interesting concept to think about. So I wanted to get your thoughts on this statement and what it means to you and how you personally interpret it.