The Blessed Bassinet

Look how much Peter's grown already! Here he is right after birth (2/9/07):

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And here he is just two weeks ago (4/4/07), with his cousin Joseph (on the left):

I can't believe it's already been a week since my last post! Time sure does fly . . . when you are insanely busy as I am (with my very active little Peter). This is love: Peter is actually NAPPING in his BASSINET (a miracle) so I have time to do whatever I want . . . eat breakfast, clean my front room, groom myself . . . and I am choosing to blog. Yes, I love you all, my blogging fans.

WARNING: The next two paragraphs may make some parents extremely jealous. Since about his second week of life, Peter has slept six hours straight every night (don't say I didn't warn you). In his first month and a half, he'd go down anywhere from midnight to 2 a.m., then stay asleep for five to six hours, wake up for a feeding, and go right back down for two or three more hours of sleep. With the exception of two or three nights, this has been his schedule . . . until last week.

Peter is two months old. He is admittedly a pretty remarkable and handsome boy (I'm not biased or anything) . . . and last week, he actually started to sleep THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! His general sleep schedule now is that he goes down at about 10:30 p.m., wakes up eight to nine hours later (at around 7 a.m.) for a feeding, then goes back to sleep for another two or three hours. Isn't that insane? I am obviously very happy about his sleep habits, but I don't know what I did differently to deserve such a good sleeper. I think he was just born this way! Lucky Robert and me!

One thing I CAN take credit for is that I play with Peter all day long . . . so he may sleep so well because by the night time, he is exhausted from all our adventures. He has learned to play by himself and does do that quite a bit during the day, but together we dance (usually to MY favorite songs, which I'll blog about later), play with blocks, go on walks (at least once a day; this is his nap time usually), talk, sing LOTS of songs (anyone who knows me isn't surprised about this one), and read books. A couple of days ago, I started reading him The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I own it, but I'd actually never read it, so it's been fun to read it aloud to Peter. We read about a chapter a day (at one sitting). I of course use separate accents for all of the characters because I'm crazy like that, so he usually just stares at me most of the time (or falls asleep for periods). Peter already thinks/knows I'm weird! Oh well! It was bound to happen sometime. At least I'm FUN weird. But truly, reading time has become my favorite part of our day together (well, other than when he's smiling a ton -- you can't beat that).

Okay, this is the never ending blog (Is it just me, or do you also get the theme song from The Never Ending Story stuck in your head every time you hear the phrase "never ending"? Just me? Hmm. Figures.) so I'm going to wrap it up. Blog to you all later! Bye! (-Jocelyn)

Isn't this funny? Peter started sucking on his fingers like this the other day, creating a "fang" effect.

Baby Time

Twice in one day! Crazy!

I wanted to post a few more cute pics. Liz was in town last week, so we all got together to celebrate Katie's and Andy's birthdays with cake and ice cream.

Here is the line up of sisters and babies (left to right is oldest baby to youngest: Liz and Joseph; Me and Peter; Katie and Amanda; and Annette [sorry the shot cut you off!] and Penelope):
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And here are two more adorable Peter pictures. He's wearing his monkey sweater (thanks Megan!) in both. :) (-Jocelyn)

Happy Boy!

Hello all! Sorry it's been a while. I'll try to be better at blogging, which should be doable now that Peter is almost TWO MONTHS OLD! Can you believe it? I can't! It's insane that he's already two months . . . but it's very, very happy.

Our poor little guy had an ear infection (which I'm sure contributed to his crankiness before) we found out a week and a half ago. Now it's all better . . . and I don't know if it's the antibiotics or if it's just his age right now, but in the past week or so, Peter has learned to play like there is no tomorrow! He LOVES (and I mean LOVES) his crib and his mobile. His crib bedding and mobile are Noah's Ark theme, and seriously, he'll look at the different animals and giggle and talk and just love every minute! It is so nice for me that he has his happy space now, so I can set him down and he'll be happy with his "friends" for usually at least 20 minutes. Wahoo!!!

Peter is also smiling so much lately. The crib mobile almost always brings out his smile (unless he is hungry, tired, or needs a diaper change), but lately he smiles almost every time I talk to him. He really is a dang cute kid. *Sigh.*

In law school news (I know, you're all dying to know), we are STILL WAITING to hear from Northwestern, UCLA, and Cornell. Darrrgh!!! The frustrating thing is that the first deposit deadlines for all the other schools is April 15 . . . so unless we hear from the big three this week, we'll have to put down some money at another school. Right now, we're thinking we are going to go to George Washington (in D.C.) or one of the three we're waiting for . . . so if we don't hear from all three schools by next week, we'll pay the deposit for GW and then wait and see . . . and pray some more when the letters finally come. We really like GW and they've offered Robert a nice scholarship . . . plus living in D.C. would be a blast AND we have family in the area. We'll see though on where we really REALLY end up. Hmm . . .

Okay, this post is like forever long, so if you're still reading it, thanks for hanging in there! Personally, I've gone through a lot of transformations lately. Motherhood is crazy. I mean, I was pregnant for nine months so obviously I knew it was coming, but you just can't prepare yourself for what it really means to be a mom. This month's Ensign had a talk by President Faust that I loved (you can read it here). This quote really hit me:

The soul of the marriage is greatly enriched and the spiritual growing process is greatly strengthened when a couple become parents. . . . Men grow because as fathers they must take care of their families. Women blossom because as mothers they must forget themselves. We understand best the full meaning of love when we become parents.

That quote . . . conference . . . and a lot of heartfelt prayers (and, honestly, turning off the TV) have helped me "lose myself" in motherhood. The difference in my happiness is night and day. I really do love being a mom, and I am constantly amazed that my love for Peter just keeps growing. Yay for life. :)

Here's hoping all is well with you and yours. Until next time . . . (-Jocelyn)