What can I say? I'm a slacker!

I know, I know, I'm a total slacker! Yes, I could throw out a ton of excuses, some might even be valid, but in truth for the most part I'm just a slacker! Sorry for not posting on my own blog and for not checking in on everyone else's blog for awhle. I'll try to do better! To satisfy my sister, Bonnie's, request here is a more recent picture of Rand...

He loves to chill in his bouncy seat. This is normally where he sits while I try to get things done. Try is the key word here. Most of the time to actually get things done he is relaxing in the cool Mobi Wrap my sister made me.

He is a picture of two of the cutest boys on earth at the temple during our family reunion in Utah. Handsome boys I must say.

This picture was also taken during the Peterson Family Reunion. Alex loves his cheetos!

Here is a picture of Rand with his Uncle Brad. Brad is the reason that Rand's middle name is Bradley.

I thought I'd throw in one more picture of Rand cooing and smiling. I love this stage. I have only heard him laugh once, and I can't wait to hear him get into the giggle stage. (Sleeping through the night would be awesome too!)

Happy Birthday Rand!

Rand Bradley Peterson was born on May 14, 2009 at 12:03am. He missed having the same birthday as James by 3 minutes. I guess he wanted a day of his own. He weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces and was 22 inches long. Quite the big boy! What I noticed first about him was his huge feet. The outfits I brought to the hospital barely stretch over his long body and newborn socks definently don't fit well. He has dark brown hair and currently he still has blue eyes.



I had an appointment to be induced on Jamesy's birthday but I started into active labor just before Jamesy got home from school. I wanted to have a little family party for Jamesy's birthday before we went in so for an hour we ate cake and icecream and Jamesy opened his presents before we went into the hospital. When I got there I was at a three and my contractions were down to 2-3 minutes apart. It was nice to not have to be induced and I was given an epidural just over an hour after I got there. Rand came faster than I thought, but I wasn't complaining.


Jamesy and Alex came to see baby Rand the next day. Alex brought his special little blanket to give to Rand. From Alex, that means a lot! The boys love little Rand and are very careful with him.

My parents were able to come out for a week to help out. I'm so glad that they did. It was awesome to visit with them and they did so much for us! James and Alex loved showing them how to play the Wii and they had a blast hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. My parents also brought their dogs to help entertain our dogs too!

Our first family photo! I scared Alex a little because I was still hooked up to an IV and had to wear oxygen for a couple of days. He didn't like to see me hooked up to machines. I am doing really well now though.

Here is Rand on his first day at home. We were both finally released on Saturday evening. I sure was happy to be home! The hospital and the staff there were great, but there is something about coming home.

You can get an idea at how big Rand is compared to five year old Alex. Alex loves rocking baby Rand!

We love you Rand! Welcome to the family!

Happy Birthday Jamesy!

Jamesy on the day he was born.

Gotta love giving one-year-olds chocolate cake!

A two-year-old who apparently needed two binkies. What a funny kid!

Jamesy is still two here, but I love this picture so I wanted to include it.

Jamesy with his best buddy at three years old.

Jamesy at age four.

Jamesy at his 5th birthday party!

Jamesy at age six modeling one of his birthday presents.

Jamesy at age seven. He just lost his first tooth. (Yes that is his still pregnant mommy he is sitting on. Good news though. I get to be induced today on Jamesy's birthday! He is really excited!)

Happy Birthday Jamesy! I'm so glad that you are in our family. I can't believe how fast you are growing up. Thanks for being such a good kid! I love you!

Happy Birthday Alex!

Our little guy on the day he was born!

Alex at one years old! We waited until he turned one to go to Disney Land. His favorite ride was It's a Small World After All. He loved the little figures that were just his size. (Good luck getting the song out of your head...sorry!)

Alex's second birthday party.

Alex's third birthday.

Sir Alexander on his fourth birthday. We had a knights and castles theme.

Our big five year old! He was very lucky today. His preschool had a field trip for an easter egg hunt at a local park. I was able to go along with him and we had a great time. Happy Birthday Alex!

Obnoxious questions not to ask a pregnant woman...

Today I had my first doctor appointment in Texas. It had been almost a month since my last appointment in South Dakota so I was anxious to see how things were going. The first part was the dreaded scale. Since we have been traveling I hadn't seen a scale for almost a month. Let's just say that I have never weighed this much before and leave it at that. During my exam I was measured, and told that I was measuring big. I was sent to get a round of lab work done and was told that most likely they will have to take the baby a couple of weeks early because of his size. Normally a pregnant woman would be thrilled to be done a couple of weeks early, but we are trying to keep this kiddo in up to his due date so that we can move in to our house and actually have baby stuff ready. Everything is in storage right now. Not the best news, but other than that everything else looks good. While I was waiting in the lab, several people asked me when I was due. When I told them that I had five more weeks to go people looked shocked and couldn't believe that I had that much more to go. Then I was asked if I was having a boy or a girl. When I replied that I was having my third boy, some people said they were sorry that I wasn't having a girl. I told them I wasn't. That shocked me. A little girl asked me how the baby got in my tummy, and I wasn't sure how to answer that so I told her to ask her mom. On my way out of the hospital while I was waiting for an elevator a man asked me if I was having twins. By this time I was sick of people asking me weird questions about my size so I told him no, I'm just really big. He didn't seem to think that his question was inappropriate.

To sum up here is a list of questions not to ask a pregnant woman:

1.How did that baby get in your tummy?

2. When are you due? (normally ok, but don't look shocked when she tells you when.)

3. Are you having a boy or a girl? (again normally ok, but don't feel sorry for the poor woman if it isn't what you think she wanted. She might actually be happy with what she is getting!)

4.Are you having twins? (it just makes the woman feel fat!)

5. this isn't a question, because strangers never ask, but don't rub a woman's belly under any circumstance unless she says it is ok.

We have a contract on a house!!!

We finally found a house! We made two previous offers on other houses and both fell through. I have to admit that I was getting pretty discouraged, but our realtor found this house for us by chance as she was driving around. She saw a for sale by owner sign and got us an appointment to see it. I'm really glad that she did because I like this house better than the other two we made offers on. We finalized the contract today and we should close on the house on April 17th. I wish it was sooner, but apparently that is pretty fast to close on a house. With a contract, James and Alex can finally get into school. The policy out here is that you have to have proof of residency before children can attend school. The boys have both been out of school since March 10th so I was getting a little worried and they were getting really bored in the TLF. Jamesy started 1st grade today and Alex starts preschool tomorrow. The preschool program out here is free to military dependents and is all day five days a week. That means that I'll have plenty of free time before we move, and when we move in, I'll have a lot of time to unpack without having to keep kids entertained. When we close on the house I'll send out an e-mail with our updated information.

We made it to Texas, Happy Anniversary, and Buying a House is Hard!

Well, we made it to Texas! South Dakota gave us a great send off...we left the State at -11 degrees! The roads were better than we thought so it wasn't as scary as we thought it would be. We enjoyed our time in Utah on the way. We spent almost a week at a fabulous cabin in Sundance, Utah with some awesome friends. It was nice to kick back and live a few care-free days before the trek to Texas. The only bad thing about the trip to Utah was that we didn't have enough time to see everyone we wanted to.

Today is also James and my 8th anniversary! Since we didn't know anyone out here to watch the kids, we took the whole family out on a "romantic" dinner to Olive Garden. James took me to Olive Garden on our first date and we also went there for lunch on our wedding day, so it is kind of a tradition to go there on our anniversary. The boys did surprisingly well. It would have been nicer to go alone, but what do you do? At least we tried to celebrate!

Over the last few days we have looked at 16 houses with the kids. The boys are totally sick of looking at houses and pray that we will find a house soon so they don't have to look at anymore houses. So far, Alex's favorite house is the one where they had a bowl of chocolate out. He could care less about the actual houses. James is a little more helpful, but his favorite we eliminated for practical reasons. Can't win them all! We have finally narrowed it down to two. Hopefully we can make a decision tonight and put in an offer tomorrow. I'm already sick of TLF so the sooner we get out of here the better! I guess it takes several weeks to close on a house so its a race to see if the baby comes first or we get in the house first. I've been having a lot of pre-term labor. Hopefully I'll have better news about the house hunt soon, and I'll post pictures then.