He's Back...

  I'm happy to report that Quade is back to his happy self:) I don't know what type of stage he was going through or if he was teething or not feeling good. But it's over!! He is eating good again and loves his bath and anything to do with water. Wow, that was a long few weeks. But we made it through, and it won't be the last one for sure. I'm just not used to Quade being any kind of fussy or unhappy and that's what he was for 2 or 3 weeks. Poor guy. He did get a molar and four other teeth during that period. So we'll just chalk it up for teething. 

  Austyn is doing good. And Jordan has been working his butt off cleaning up all the trees around our place. Him and my parents have been so busy. We almost have all of ours done. What a mess! I've been busy mowing and spraying and doing all the springy things around the house. I love this time of year. I can't wait for Austyn to be done with school so we can play outside all day.  We planted daffodils last fall and it looks so pretty. I can't wait to get some flowers this summer to put in front of the house. 

  I'm loving this warmer weather, makes me motivated to go running with the stroller for my workouts. I put Austyn in the front of the stroller this morning and the 40 extra pounds on top of Quade's 30 and however much the stroller weighs was quite the push for 3 miles. Definitely got my workout this morning. Hope everyone else is enjoying the warm weather like we are. 

My Happy Boy Turns Crabby...

  As much as I'm reluctant to face it, Quade is changing into quite the determined young lad (to say it nicely). He is still happy and easy going the first half of the day. But when he wakes up from his second nap, he is a different kid althogether:( He is a little turd to feed dinner, and he screams the whole time in the bath tub. Which is something he used to love. I'm finding myself anxious and dreading the evenings with him, which I hate feeling like that. I've tried to feed him a big meal right when he wakes up thinking he's hungry. I've tried another small nap in the late evening thinking he's tired. But nothing works. All he wants to eat is baby food and snack foods for dinner, which is not going to cut it with me. He throws fits about everything, which is something I'm not used to either. I feel like I've tried everything the nice way. And all I'm doing is causing bad habits. And I know it's just a stage he's going through. But mean mommy is slowly creeping out in me. He is so picky with his foods too. It's driving me nuts. Gotta love this part of parenting, shooting from the hip and hopeing it works. I don't mind trying new things, in fact I love different approaches. I just hate causing bad habits, they are so hard to break. I know everything will turn out just fine in a few weeks when he moves on to a different stage, but it gets a little draining every evening. That's the beauty and the downfall about kids is that they travel through their different stages so quickly. Enough to keep you on your toes for sure. It's even puzzling Jordan. Usually when I get to this stage I'm grasping at any suggestions or ideas I can get and he usually has such a simple solution for everything. But not this time. Dang it! I totally get that it's a stage, but I'll take any thoughts on the issue. Sooner than later please!!

Motherhood...

  Some days there are times when the only way to define myself is by saying I'm a Mother. I think those days are the most exhausting, but also the most memorable. My most recent mom moment was while letting Quade run around without a diaper (first mistake), and suddenly he started to poop.  Without hesitation I dove off the couch and caught it in my bare hand. Earlier that day I was trying to catch one of our goats so I could give it a shot, and yet I couldn't make myself dive to catch the goat. But when my mom powers kick in I have no problem diving towards a pooping kid in the middle of the living room. Funny how those things work. I also have to say that in my last post I had said that Quade had never woke up in the night since 6 weeks. Well that came back to bite me in the ass. Friday night he woke up screaming. And the only thing he wanted is to be held and rocked. So I pulled my first all nighter with Quade and had a nice handful off poo all in a 24 hour period. And I didn't mind either one. The glory of being a mom. I'm sure that's not the last time I stay up all night for one of the kids for whatever reason. Down the road I bet I'll be wishing I was holding and rocking my baby in my arms at 2 am instead of wondering and worrying what he's doing at 2 am. Not sure I'll be wanting to catch anymore poop in my hand, but I'm sure that's not the worst thing I'll end up doing. I'm just forever grateful that a few sleepless night of teething is all we have to worry about. We have been blessed with amazingly perfectly healthy kids. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it would be if we had serious health issues to deal with. 

  Austyn is our little spit fire. Sassy as ever. With an enormous imagination. She loves to help anyone do anything. She likes cooking/baking the best. She is still enjoying her pony, but with quite a cautious approach. And that's ok, because she is only three. She is learning so much in school. I love seeing her learn new things and then I love seeing how proud she is of herself. One of Austyns more funny/irritating at times traits is singing and talking. I'm surprised she doesn't talk in her sleep. From the time she wakes up to the time she goes to sleep, she never stops talking or singing. And sometimes when I put her to bed, she will sing to herself until I go in and tell her it's bedtime. She makes up songs about what she's doing or have singing conversations with me. It's pretty funny. I'm told I was the same way when I was her age. 

  Quade is walking all over now. He is getting so good at walking on uneven ground. We are working through his picking eating, and I can see if we keep up the consistency it will get better really soon. He loves the men in his life. He is a mans man already. Everytime Jordan walks through the door he freaks out and starts yelling DaDa over and over. He is getting all four eye teeth at the same time. He doesn't handle teething pain very well. It gives him the worst blistered bloody diaper rash for a day or so. It's miserable for him. But when he's not teething he is his happy self still and loves his new freedom that comes with walking. He loves to have his little hands busy with toys that require a little thinking. 

   Jordan is doing good. He's been busy trying to clean up all the trees and limbs that came down in the ice storm. He almost has all the brush done. But then he still has all the logs to work up and split and stack. Wood, the heat that warms you more than once(like four or five times)! He is beginning to take classes for his officer development program. He is always moving forward. 

   I'm just chugging along. Enjoying the kids as much as possible and the time I get to have with them. Because I know it won't be like this forever. I'm still working out and losing weight. Although slower than I'd like, but it's coming off. I have 7 more pounds to go, to get to my goal weight. Not too bad. Definitely doable before summer hits. 

   Hope everyone is doing great. 

The Birthday Boy Quade . . .

  As I sit here writing Quade's Birthday blog, my heart is both sad and filled to the brim with love and happiness for Quade. He is my last baby. Never again will I have a one year old that does one year old things. But I am trying my best to enjoying each of his stages and cherish his little moments.
  Quade turned a year old on the 13th. He was 8.8 pounds and 21 inches long at birth. He is now 24 pounds and 29 3/4 inches longs, a year later. He has always been the easiest baby there ever was. He slept through the night a 6 weeks old and has never again woke in the night. He has four teeth working on five. He is a slow teether and he is pretty sensitive to the teething pain. But I won't hold that against him. He has never had an ear infection (knock on wood) and is very healthy. I have found him to be a little sensitive to strawberries. But hopefully he will grow out of that like most people do. He is a snuggler, which I absolutely love. He loves his pacifier and his blanky for comfort. He is taking two naps a day. Each two hours, and sleeps for about 11 hours at night. He loves the water. He will dunk his face over and over and just giggle. And just like Austyn, he is an eater! He is a smidge bit pickier than she was, but I'm sure that's my fault for letting him get away with it. He is a lot more adventurous with his food if I'm not present. Jordan does wonders with getting him to eat new things (pickles!). He gets one 8 oz bottle at bedtime still. And that purely is for my sake only. I weaned Austyn on the day of her first Birthday, just like the doctor and all the readings said. But for Mr. Mr. I'm holding (or clutching if you will) on to every last baby thing I can. I'm sure I'll give it up shortly (maybe). Quade is a very hands on thinker when it comes to play time. He can figure out how a toy works immediately. He is very clever. I'm still telling myself he is going to be easy going, but a little bit of Me slips out once and awhile and scares me. He is very sensitive to discipline. He gets his feelings hurt easily. Quite different from what we are use to with Austyn. But he still respects his boundries very well. He is walking and beginning to attempt climbing. He's pretty husky ;) so it's a little difficult to get his little drum sticks up on what he's wanting to climb on. But he'll get it very soon. Quade loves anything with wheels. He just freaks outs every time he sees a tractor, 4 wheeler, lawn mower, basically anything he can ride on he loves. His vocabulary with me is great. He can say: dog, cow, goat, cat, thank you, mama, dada, Cha Cha, Austyn, bird. But my mom and I are about the only ones that can pick out what he's saying. I love love love this stage. He is soaking up everything and learning something new by the minute. It is so rewarding to see his new skills develop and be put to use. He waves and claps and shakes his head for "no no". And he loves to be praised. 

  I'm sitting here trying to think of something to say about Quade that needs some work or improvement. And I've only come up with him eating a little bit better and not needing his pacifier. I would like him to try new things and get a little more variety in his diet. But other than that he is my perfect precious angle. I just can't believe he is one already. This summer is going to be so much fun with him. He I'll be running around and he will love splashing around in the river. He makes our perfect little family complete. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not sure how we got so lucky to have two wonderfully perfect and adorable kids. 

A few pictures over Quade's first year of life:

Days before Quade graced us with his presents. 

I think Austyn was mocking me:)

First picture at the hospital in Daddy's arms

My hopes and dreams for Quade is that

he will grow up to be exactly like his Daddy 

in every way, even the irritating ways.

This kid has been able to fall asleep anywhere. And

he's even happy while he sleeps.

Happy Easter!

Best picture taker ever...

Bath time cutie. He's a killer with those big

blue eyes.

Happy Halloween

The Lights Are On and We Are Home . . .

  It was six days without power at home and I'm happy to announce we have power again! I can't even begin to thank my family for all the help and support they gave us through this week. My dad came over twice a day and fed and watered our goats, while fueling up the generators that were running our refrigerator and freezer. And my mom is always the best help with the kids. Also a great big thanks to my brother who put up with all of us for two of the nights. We are all safe and sound at home now, laundry is going and kids are napping in their own beds :) I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight. The floor was not good to me. I'm still paying for it with my back.

It's always an adventure with the Petersen's. But that's how we like it (I think).

The Power of Power. . .

 Oh my goodness where do I begin... Saturday at about 4 pm our power went out due to the ice storm we had. So I packed up all our stuff and traveled over to my brothers who had power and a wood stove. My parents and Grandma had also lost power so they were there as well. Along with all of our dogs:) 5 adults, 2 kids, 4 dogs. A house full to say the least. Almost forgot to mention one dog had diarrhea. Fun, fun, fun. Austyn was so so excited to have a slumber party at Cha Cha's (Chad). So we settled in and made the best of it. In the morning my Grandma moved up to my Aunts since they had power and we stayed at my brothers all day. My parents power came on in the evening so we moved down to their house for the night. The next day we spent playing and hanging out at my parents like usual and right before dinner, their power went out again:( So once  again, I packed all of our stuff up and moved it back down to my brothers house. During the night the power was restored at my parents and confirmed it was restored by the power company. So Tuesday morning I re-packed our stuff (that's four times if you've lost count) and went back to my parents. We have been doing the every other night thing between my brother and my parents. Did I mention we have had to move our stuff four times, and the amount of crap kids require is amazing. But I'm doing it with a smile on my face. And all the while Jordan was on a ice fishing trip and then at work. Needless to say, he got to miss out on ALL THE FUN we've been having. Tuesday has been the first day he's been home since Thursday. So that has been our living situation. And now for the events that came along with the chaos.

Here we are at my brothers house eating breakfast. 

  First thing that happened was the snow was getting too deep for our goats so I moved them up to my  Grandmas barnyard. Shortly after their house caved in from the snow. Then the ice storm began which started all the trees and limbs falling. So as the kids napped on Saturday I had to watch all our beautiful trees falling all over our property. The best tree on all of my families 100 acres split in half and fell right I front of the house. I wanted to cry. So so sad. It was very scary. We were barely able to make it down my parents driveway due to all the trees and limbs falling. They were just falling like the leaves in the fall. Everywhere you looked you could watch trees and limbs explode on the icy snow beneath them. And trying to sleep through it knowing that all of our buildings, houses, barns, shops are all surrounded by trees. I was just praying that our structures would make it.  And to our surprise they did!!! The tree mess will probably take about a month to clean up. It looks like a hurricane came through. It's just amazing the damage the ice caused. Pretty devastating.  

This is the big tree in front of our house

The end out our driveway

This is my parents driveway after hours of clearing just to make it passable

Behind our house

 In our slew behind our pump house

Another picture of the tree in front of the house 

  The picture don't even begin to show the amount of disaster to our properties. I wish we would have taken pictures the night of and morning after. But no one was really in the mood. I'm sure you can understand. 

  So it's now Wednesday night, still no power. We have been hearing 3 or 4 more day:( I'm just thankful we have family close by that has power. The kids have been little trooper through this whole mess. Austyn has loved the excitement and the new and different places to sleep. And Quade is his usual easy going perfect little self. I'm not sure what I've done to deserve such great kids, but I'll take it. Austyn and Quade loved the bath they took at my brothers house. He has a deep sink in his utility room that we bathed them in and they absolutely loved it. It was different and fun, so I'm sure that's why the liked it so much. Not one time has Quade cried or fussed through all the moving and different napping and sleeping places. I just lay him down like usual and out he goes. Austyn has been a little more chatty during bed time, but that's only expected under the circumstances. We made Quade Birthday cupcakes for his Birthday tomorrow. And Austyn has a Valentine party at school tomorrow too. So life as they know it hasn't changed. Just can't get over how great they are.
   I can't complain much about not having power. Some people don't have a place to go or families to help. And it's out of my control anyways, so there's not much I can do. No need to gripe about something that I can't fix. At least it's making memories we will never forget. We have been fortunate enough to keep a generator going for our refrigerator and freezer. Our house is colder inside than it is outside. Our windows are fogged from the outside, it's so cold in there. The one thing that I will complain about through this whole thing is our (Jordan and I) sleeping arrangement. We are use to a king bed and sleeping on a double is a bit of an adjustment to say it nicely. I'm not much of a snuggler, but you don't have much of a choice in a double bed :) I'm a little lacking of sleep, but nothing I haven't dealt with before. Hope everyone is faring well through all of this. Now for the flooding. What's with this weather.

Companions . . .

  We have been looking for another goat or two for Fern, since Phil passed away. And we finally found some. They are 8 month old does (females)both are Boers just like Fern. They are so cute. Jordan and my Dad had to de-horn them and give them some shots :( But even after that traumatic experience they were pretty friendly. They went right to eating and exploring with Fern. Austyn named them of course, and they are Frankie and Phillis(in memory of Phil). She did this all on her own. I was very impressed. She kept saying we need to get Fern a new Phil. And that we did! Two new Phils :) I feel much better now that Fern has a companion again.

That's Fern in the front and Frankie and Phillis are 

behind her.

I'm not sure which one is which. I'll have to ask

Austyn :)

We decided to take a walk and get out of the house. 

She was a fashion statement for sure.

Here she is again, another fashion

statement. We were watching this herd

of Elk pass through our field and she was

too excited to get dressed.

30 some Elk in our field. It was amazing to see them so 

close and on our property. I hope they make it a regular

trail.

  Austyn is still enjoying George. I have figured out that her attention span is about 20 or 30 minutes. And that's ok, I just need to keep it in mind and remember that she is 3. George had really bad teeth when we got him. We got them floated and even had to pull one of them. So needless to say he is feeling like a new horse. I've been having to lunge him before I put Austyn on. I can't wait for this summer when it is nice outside and we can go play horse together :)

  Quade is doing great. He is growing up way way way too fast. He is almost 1! It makes me want to cry :( He is only getting 1 bottle at night now, which is so sad. He can stand by himself forever and even catch himself when he starts leaning to one side or another. It wont be long before that boy is walking. He is ALL boy too. He will make truck sounds as he plays with his trucks and crash them into things. He is so rough compared to what Austyn ever was. I love to see the differences.

  Jordan is now starting to take classes and prepare for his Officer Development Program. Which I think starts in a couple years. Ya gotta love his drive, motivation, and stamina. Or otherwise known as CRAZY! I do admire him for knowing his dreams and goals and achieving them not matter what stands in his way. He is definitely a go getter. And I love him for that. I hope our kids get that from him. Come to think of it, I don't think there is anything I wouldn't want Jordan to pass along to our kids. Besides his volume control problem, but Austyn has already been cursed with that. Yay, for me!!!!

  I can proudly say, I have lost 5 pounds and over 5 inches so far. I think it's been 4 weeks. I'm very pumped about that. I was trying to lose the rest of Austyn and Quade by the time he turned 1, so I have about 8 or 9 more pounds to go by the 13th of February. I think that's pushing it a little, but I'll get close.

  I hope everyone has enjoyed the rain break. I know we have. This is going to be the best summer yet (I know it's still a ways off). Quade will be toddling and being at our new place is going to be great.. I'm so excited!! Hope all is well with everyone.