Thursday, July 30, 2009

Adventure in the Wilderness...

Since it's the last night that Stephanie gets to spend with us, we decided that we would go on an adventure :) and that adventure led us to a trail that goes up Mount Ogden. Jamie and Patti gave us a carrier and this has been the first time that we've been able to really use it. Let me just say...Baby Bjorns are pretty darn awesome...

(I'm not exactly sure what Stephanie is doing...but she's sporting a very bright blue tongue from the Otter Pop she had in the car on the way up to the trail...)

Michael enjoyed himself for the first half of the trek up the mountain...


...but then he started to get upset, so Jonathan took him out of the carrier. Not even five minutes later he was sleeping in Jonathan's arms as we walked back down the trail.

The trail was beautiful and it will definitely be a repeat adventure in the near future.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A Visit from Auntie Stephanie

Yesterday, Michael and I drove to Salt Lake to steal Stephanie from Grandma Peggy. Ever since then, Michael's been having all sorts of fun with his auntie...

They've been watching movies together...


yawning together...

passing gas together...(of course Stephanie's only comes out of one end while Michael's comes out of both...)

and relaxing together...

She's only been with us a day so far, but we've enjoyed her company! We get to have her until Friday...and let me tell you, by then she will be an expert diaper changer ;)

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Michael Talks Back

Every single day Michael is becoming more and more responsive to us when we talk to him. He's the most pleasant and "talkative" around 6:30 in the morning on the changing table. I've tried getting several videos of this cuteness and I actually got a good one this morning, but I got an even better one once I brought him back into our bedroom...



Sorry the video is sideways...I couldn't figure out how to rotate it...


Friday, July 24, 2009

Michael's Many Sleeping Positions

Over the past 54 days, Michael has proven that he can sleep soundly in all sorts of different positions...


**notice that Michael has a firm grip on Jonathan's chest hair

At night he sleeps best in his bassinet (thank goodness...) but his favorite position as of late when he's dozing with his daddy is with his head burrowed in between Jonathan's chest and arm...

I know I'm biased...but he's pretty darn cute in his sleep :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

7 1/2 Weeks Later...

I am grateful to say that our little bundle of joy is here...happy and healthy.


Michael Sekijiro was born at 11:22 am Monday, June 1st at the University of Utah Hospital. He was 6 pounds 10 ounces and 20 inches long. Since that day, things have been all sorts of hectic...or at least it feels that way with a newborn.


Here's a brief recap of the last 7 1/2 weeks...

  • We had a surprise visit from Paul, Jennie, and James the week Michael was born. (A much needed and appreciated surprise :-) )


(I didn't get any pictures of Jennie with Michael that week--sad day)

  • A few weeks after Michael was born, we moved to Ogden with the help of the Peterson clan, the Harris', Dustin, and Kane...and we still aren't completely unpacked...

  • Michael has started smiling and babbling ever so slightly.
(I've attempted on MANY occasions to get his babbling on video, but every time I try, he just blankly stares at the camera...)

  • Joe-Joe got married allowing yet another visit with the Peterson's from Anaheim as well as the Peterson's from Oregon. (And of course it gave us an excuse to have fun with the Harris' in Murray ;))
And that's about everything in a nutshell. I'll try posting more often now that we have a cute little boy to post about! We'll see how well I actually do...

Thursday, May 14, 2009

I Am Alive...

My excuse used to be that I was too busy with school (planning lessons and creating my portfolio) to blog...but I finished my Student Teaching over a month ago and finished my school projects the last week of April--so my new excuse is that I've been (and am) tired. :) A lot has happened over the past 3 months...You can read it all if you'd like...or just look at all the pictures :)

1. 3 Baby Showers (2 of which were surprises)
2. I finished my Student Teaching
3. I GRADUATED!!!!

Now I'm just waiting...waiting...waiting for this baby to make his debut!

Baby Shower #1:
Paul, Jennie, and James came out for a quick visit at the end of February and with their help distracting me in the morning, Diana managed to surprise me with a wonderful Baby Shower.

The funny thing is that I really was super surprised...I'm telling you pregnancy does funny things to your mind. When Paul, Jennie, James, and I pulled up to the Andrews' house I even mentioned to them that it was odd that there were so many cars there. Paul smoothly played it by saying that the Andrews may have family visiting...and I didn't think anything of it! When we walked in the door I should have realized something fishy was going on when Brother Andrews started acting so "surprised" to see us...anyway we started going downstairs to "look at a family photo" when the "SURPRISE" was shouted. The biggest surprise though was seeing my mom's big smile at the base of the stairs. :)

(Jonathan was in San Diego at a convention...we missed him--but still had lots of fun! Thanks everyone!)

Baby Shower #2:
As you know I student taught in the 6th grade and the students in my class wanted to do something special for me before I left. On my last day they gave me a wonderful scrapbook with a personalized page from each of them and they threw me a lovely party full of baby games and presents. While I'm glad to be done, it still is pretty weird not seeing their cute faces everyday...

My favorite part of those two showers was the dirty diaper guessing game--the following pictures will reveal why:



Baby Shower #3:
I flew out to California the week after I finished my Student Teaching and spent a week of leisure at the Peterson Home. I was able to take a bath in their new jetted tub and witness the completion of their other beautiful bathroom. The day of the shower we were beginning to worry that no one would come because so many people had stopped by in previous days to drop off gifts, but there was an amazing turnout! Had anyone else come there wouldn't have been much room for them to sit! It was a lot of fun. Mom and Dad threw me a wonderful shower and they surprised me with flying Diana out to help with the festivities.

(notice mom hiding...)

Stephanie was the one going around and taking all the pictures...so I unfortunately don't have any good ones to include of her! (Dad and Steven escaped to an Angels game of course...)


Student Teaching:
Again...glad to be done! My last week at the Elementary School we had two field trips...great way to end!


Graduation:
I graduated May 8th...pretty exciting day! Mom, Dad, and Baba drove out for the festivities and Diana, Jeff, and Grandma and Grandpa Whatcott took time out of their day to join us as well :). During the ceremony I was announced and asked to stand as ranking second in my class and for receiving the honor of Summa Cum Laude--pretty nifty stuff!



I tried my best not to waddle as I walked across the stage...while concentrating on not falling on my face! I'm happy to say that I did neither. I was tempted to stop in the middle of the stage and pretend my water broke...but decided against it. After the ceremony we made our way to Happy Sumo per mom's request (not that I complained! Yummy Sushi!). We were joined there by Gramma Peggy and Glen.


I'm sure you're tired of reading and if you've even gotten this far reading everything I'll be very impressed...but here's a picture of my cute pregnant lady graduation dress that was hidden by my gown the whole day...

So now we wait...and continue to prepare as much as we can for the baby! He's dropped and the contractions are coming more frequently...but not quite consistent enough to be too excited. It's hard to believe that it could be only a matter of days that he'll be here...