Trick or Treat!

Updates on Clifton -
Well I do not want to jinx it so I won't say too much, but Clifton's sleep is getting better and more consistent!  Nursery this Sunday was better thanks to the wonderful nursery leaders.  The first hour Alex stayed in with him and could not escape without Clifton screaming.  After I finished conducting Primary I tried to take him in and they were eating a snack.   I was able to sneak out.  After a little he asked for us but the nursery leaders kept him happy for the rest of the hour.  So we are getting closer!

Monday was Halloween!

Clifton refused to wear his tool belt and hat so we pulled out his costume from last year (Tigger).  He was too tall for it so we cut off the feet of the costume.  It looked a little silly but he really liked being a Tiger and would even wear the hood.

 Clifton's friend Evan came with us. They sure love each other.  They are roaring in this picture.  Evan was being so silly and every time Clifton was not looking he would try and sneak some candy out of Clifton's bucket.

We set out early just to go to some friends' and neighbors' houses, but Clifton really got the idea of knocking and getting treats.  So we continued for a little while longer; until I could not walk anymore.  He was super cute.  He would go up and knock on the door and with guidance ask for a treat. Later we went home to hand out candy.  I thought Clifton would really enjoy answering the door, which he did, but as soon as I would hand out candy to our visitors, he would shout "No!"  I tried to have him hand out candy but he would take the candy and run.  Silly boy!

 This week we did an art project to make a sign using hand prints that read "Give Thanks."  I traced Clifton's hands and let him color them in/scribble.  Alex was trying to show him it was not scary to trace his hand.  For some reason Clifton did not want to do it.  But we eventually got one traced.

This is how it turned out.  Nothing spectacular but cute.

Thursday was my birthday and I felt very loved with all the birthday wishes I received.  Alex spoiled me and asked to work from home that day.  He woke up with Clifton so I could sleep in, he made me my favorite breakfast, and helped with Clifton all day.  Later he took me out to Olive Garden (yummy)!  It was a lovely day.

Saturday we decided we really had nothing going on and it would be fun to visit with Alex's parents.  So we took a little day trip over to McCleary to visit.  It was real nice to see them.

Clifton loves being around and playing with his Grandpa and Grandma P.  Grandma would not let us take a picture of her with Clifton so we had to sneak a few in of her playing with him.

Here is a cute one of Grandpa and Clifton drinking some water and watching some football.

I love this picture.  Three important boys in my life working together to try and take off a tire.  In the end we all just stood around and watched Alex work:) 

33 Weeks!  Getting there.  It is weird how different I am carrying this baby than the way I carried Clifton.  This baby is insanely low and I am bigger this time around.  I swear I was this big within weeks of having Clifton.
We had another appointment with the doctor.  Everything is going well.  The baby's heart beat is nice and strong and she/he is moving like crazy.  We did find out something interesting. Our doctor does not believe in checking how dilated I am until I am in labor.  Which means no check at 36 weeks and no checks every week after.  Which I am fine with not having to be checked, but I think I will be a little curious to know if I am dilated or not.  But I guess it really does not matter until I am in labor because I could be dilated at 1 or 2 for months and it would mean nothing.

Painting!

Updates on Clifton -
Still struggling with nursery but he will now at least go into the room and play with Alex or I, but as soon as we leave it is screaming and more screaming.  So hopefully that is a step in the right direction.?.
He has started to show another passion.  He has always LOVED tractors and he started watching Bob the Builder and now he ask to watch "Bob" all the time.  It is crazy to me how he has never shown an interest in TV before but suddenly he is addicted.
Besides that he is a healthy and happy little boy who lights up our lives.

We had lots of fun this week.

 Alex has YM every Tuesday and I help with Activity Days every other Tues.  So Clifton gets to come with me to AD.  This week for AD the girls painted pumpkins.  We had some extras so we let Clifton join in on the painting.  He really enjoyed it.

 

 Here is his final product.  I really enjoy doing art with Clifton.

So for an early birthday present (because he had this Friday off) Alex painted the kids' rooms.

 

So this will be Baby Peterson #2's room.  Right now it is in the transition of becoming the babies room and a play room.

This was Clifton's room before the paint.

 

 So this is the process of painting both of the rooms.  It took Alex a little longer because he had Clifton running around wondering what he was doing.  After a while Clifton got in the spirit of wanting to help.  So with lots of guidance we let him help. Clifton wants to be like his dad so much and wanted to be a big boy and paint.  It was cute and a little crazy at the same time.

So this is how Baby Peterson #2's room turned out.  We painted just one wall with yellow stripes.  I love how it turned out.  I really think my husband is super talented and really appreciate his thoughtful gift for me.  This room still has work that needs to be done.  I need to get yellow curtains to hang over that huge window, duck wall decor, and change the dresser cover to yellow.  Also the crib will go where the train table is as soon as we get Clifton into his big boy bed and baby is ready for it.

 This is Clifton's room after the paint.  We painted two walls green and left two walls white.  On one wall we had stickers that match his quilt and so we put them on that wall.  Clifton loves the stickers and points to them all the time.  I really like his room.  The crib will be moved out into the babies room and the train table will take its place.  Besides that his room is pretty much set.

Saturday our ward had a trunk or treat!

I went as a construction bump sign. I thought it was pretty clever. So we figured Alex should go as the construction worker (who made the bump).  We think we are funny!  We wanted Clifton to go as a cone, but I was not creative enough nor did I think he would wear it.  So we decided to make him a construction worker as well (Bob the Builder).  He refused to wear his construction hat and tool belt so he just kind of looked like a farmer.  Hopefully for Halloween we can get him to wear it.  Good thing I did not spend money on his costume!

Clifton's little friend Evan came with us trunk or treating.  It had been a while since they had seen each other so they were just running around like crazy and laughing all night.  Evan was a cute little dinosaur.  It was so funny to watch him run around in it.  We brought Clifton's dump truck to make him look more like Bob/construction worker.

After a while of going from car to car Clifton figured it out and started liking trunk or treating.  But by the time he started having fun it was almost over.  Hopefully he will understand trick or treating on Halloween and enjoy that. 

Sunday we had our primary program.  All went real well.  The kids did great and the spirit was there.  I really enjoy my calling and working with the other presidency members, teachers, and the children!

32 weeks pregnant!  Getting out of bed is becoming my struggle, but I get there eventually!  Sunday at church people kept asking me when I was due.  When I told them the end of December they looked at me with a surprise and said that the baby is going to come early.  HOW SAD:(  I do not think the baby is going to come early I am just GINORMOUS!  Thanks for all the reminders!  Even though I am huge I have been sticking to my goal weight gain pretty well.  I am about a pound or two over what I want to have gained by now.  So hopefully I can keep that up (which this stage is where the weight really packs on).  Besides being tired, sore, and moody (the normal) all is going real well.

Carving Pumpkins!

Updates on Clifton- 

New words this week - thank you and tree

He is still hating nursery and wont even set foot in the door with Alex or I.  Friends have suggested that this new behavior could be due to Clifton realizing that there is going to be a new change soon (Baby Peterson #2).  Which makes sense, but I sure hope we can work on and get past it.  

He is talking a ton.  Although half or more of what he says we really do not understand.  However every conversation has to do with tractor or a truck.  It is cute!  I love when he looks at me like I should totally understand what he is saying but I have no clue. It makes me giggle!

I think our cat  is also going through a rough stage.  He did this near the end of my pregnancy with Clifton.  He is noticing the change and is not too excited about it.  However, with our cat I can just kick him outside and ignore his bad behaviors!  Just like I do with Alex:)

For FHE this week we carved our pumpkins!  

This is how my pumpkin turned out.  This is the best carving I have ever done.  I have a white pumpkin and thought it would be fun to do the face of Jack from Nightmare before Christmas.  I like it!

Alex had a lot of work to do emptying out and carving his huge pumpkin!  It turned out real cute!

To keep Clifton entertained while we were carving our pumpkins we dumped all the guts into a little wading pool.  He did not want to touch it with his hands, so we got him some spoons and spatulas and let him play with it.  He enjoyed scooping and dumping.  It made a mess but was well worth it.  Plus we decided to do this activity in the garage so it did not matter too much.

Tuesday we had play group at my little house.  It was fun to have friends over and let the kids play together.  Clifton struggled with everyone touching his stuff and seemed a little overwhelmed but we still had fun.

 I cut out some pumpkins and had stickers, crayons, and stuff they could glue onto their pumpkin for an activity.  Nothing spectacular but I thought it was fun and Clifton did well coloring and putting stickers on.

Wednesday my mother and her friend Ellen made a random and short trip up to visit.  It was a nice surprise! Clifton sure enjoys his grandparents.  I showed them around Port Orchard!  It was a beautiful fall morning!

Clifton's new Sunday attire.  I love this picture even though he is not smiling.  He looks like he is in the mafia or a serious lawyer out to get you.  I love it!

But here is one of him smiling in his little suit.  What a cute little man I have.

31 weeks pregnant!  I had an appointment with the doctor this week and they are now starting to be every two weeks.  Everything seems to be going well. 
Friday Alex and I registered for Baby Peterson #2.  This always gets me excited and is fun to talk about things (hopes, changes, etc...).  Not much to register for but still fun to prepare for this baby.

Halloween Fun

Updates on Clifton -

The last couple weeks Clifton's temperament seems to be changing.  Clifton is all of the sudden not letting us leave his sight.  He has been good about us leaving and never really cared too much before but now he screams and screams til he turns blue.  He is also starting to be afraid of strangers.  If he has not seen you often enough he is scared of you.  Before he would pretty much say hi and run up to anyone.  Clifton's love for Thomas the Train has grown and he asks to watch it all day long.  He will actually sit and watch it (which is a big deal for him).

 

This week we had some fun getting ready for Halloween.  For FHE this week we decorated pumpkins with MR. Potato Head parts.  Our neighbors did it and I thought it was so cute I had to steal the idea.  It was lots of fun and I think they turned out super cute.

Tuesday we had a play group at Amy Neal's house.  She made Halloween cookies for the kids to decorate. Clifton actually did well at decorating.  I thought he would just eat it.  But he helped spread the frosting and put sprinkles and candy on it.  We had lots of fun getting out of the house and being with friends:) 

Friday we went to a little pumpkin patch in town with our friends, the Ports.  They had all different types of pumpkins.  Clifton of course found the tractor first and had to play on it!  They also had little stuffed farm animals to ride on and a little tree swing.

 This is what Alex and I do for entertainment!  Dufur has started sleeping on the changing pad all day so we thought it would be fun to put a diaper on him.  I was surprised he actually let us.  It did not last very long but we all got a good laugh out of it.

Clifton thinks it is fun to sit at the computer and pretends to use it.  I think it is cute how he imitates things he sees.

Our neighbor was selling his daughter's bed frame for 40 dollars.  I thought it was a steal.  It is cute, in great shape, low to the ground, and is from IKEA (which is where we get all of our furniture - love IKEA).  I was wicked excited to have found it! Clifton thinks it is pretty cool too.

30 weeks and feeling like it!  All is well just real tired and aching.  Normal but I forgot how much I dislike the last little bit. I often wonder how I could love another little one as much as I love Clifton.  However I have come to realize that I did not think I could love Clifton this much:)

Temple Trip

Updates on Clifton -
New words - door and thank you

Well this week was a sick week.  Clifton started the week out sick got better and then ended the week sick:(  But he is a happy little guy and fights through it.  Now we will just see who will be sick this week Alex or me.  Or both!  Oh the joy of sharing germs:)

So we unpacked from one weekend to pack for another weekend away.  This week we went to Bellevue to visit family and friends.

 

Clifton and Dufur (our cat) are so helpful at packing!

 Alex and I went to a session at the Seattle temple with his family.  It was much needed and really enjoyable.  I am so lucky to be apart of his family and have always felt like I fit right in.  It was nice to go together and experience the feeling of being together forever.  I was real worried about leaving Clifton for so long and the sitters (our nieces) not being able to get a hold of us but all went well.  He enjoys spending time with his nieces and nephews and I knew they would take good care of him.

That night I went out with Alex sister and niece to see Dolphin Tale.  Our niece and I went to see the movie for the dolphin, Winter and her story but his sister went to see the movie for Harry Connick Jr.  A very cute movie!  I had a fun little girls night out and hope to do it again.

 The next day we were able to go and visit some friends in Redmond.  It was a short visit due to Clifton not feeling well.  But we always love catching up with them.  Obviously we are both expecting!  

29 weeks pregnant!  Feeling big and looking big.  But so far a smooth pregnancy.  I am getting nervous about baby number two coming and how it is going to change our little family.  I am excited but to be honest a little more nervous then excited.  I just hope I can get the hang of it and handle what will come.  I know it will not be easy and I know I have lots of help if I need it but it is still a BIG change.  

We are starting to poll what everyone thinks  -

Is it a boy or a girl (Stanley or McKay)?  I think a boy and Alex thinks a girl.  We are happy with either but it is always fun to guess.

When will baby arrive? I think the 28th of Dec and Alex is crazy and wishful and thinks the 13th of Dec.  Our doctor is guessing the 26th.  I am not allowing any guesses in Jan because we need to have the baby this year so don't jinx me!