Spring is Here!

It officially feels like Spring this week. Today we have highs in the 70's! The boys and I took this opportunity to head up to Fox Run park. There was still snow on the ground and the roads were pretty muddy but it was still a fun day. After sometime on the playground he walked around the ponds, which were still iced over. The boys had fun looking at the different signs telling about the different tress and animals along the trail. They also had fun looking for crocodiles in the frozen water. Now that nap time is over the boys are back outside. Loving this weather!

Old Friends

One of Justin's old friends form high school, Jenny, has been in Denver finishing up her Fellowship at Denver Children's Hospital. Her parents, the Dillows, also family friends, came into town with her kids for a couple weeks, so this weekend Nana and Bapa come down and we all got together. The boys had a blast with Jenny's daughters and we all had fun catching up, Justin and I hadn't seen the Dillows since our wedding. Carter and Addi really hit it off and played together the majority of the time. Here are the four of them enjoying a picnic snack together. Of course the boys had a great time seeing Nana and Bapa and Max as well. The weather being so gorgeous just made the weekend that much better.

Snow Day!

On Tuesday night we got a nice Spring snow storm. In about three and a half hours we had 8 1/2 inches of snow on our back deck. This equaled to a snow day for all of us on Wednesday! The boys had a great time helping Justin shovel out in the morning and in the afternoon we all went out and built a snowman. Like most Spring storms in Colorado by Wednesday night most of the snow on the roads was already melted away and today our snowman is about to fall over from sitting in the sun all day. We are suppose to get a little more snow this weekend and then it will be back into the 60's on Monday. Spring in Colorado - nothing else like it.

Work Ethic

Tyler has always had a sense to finish what he completes from an early age. He still also gets upset if he doesn't do things the right way the first time. He is slowly learning that it is ok to make mistakes and we just need to keep practicing. When it snowed last week, the wind pushed the fence in our back yard over. About 24 feet of fence was gone in a couple seconds. Justin has been working hard getting out the old posts (with some help from our friends) so we could put up the fence again. Yesterday we were cementing the new posts in and then Tyler helped Justin fill in the rest of the holes with dirt. At one point Justin told Tyler that was enough for the day. Tyler's answer was "but the holes aren't filled yet." Justin then asked him "you aren't going to stop now til its done are you?" Tyler's answer "nope.". So they both stayed out there until both holes were completely filled. Hopefully this work ethic will continue on to his school work in a few years.

Pregnancy Updates

So In the last post I forgot to add all the other parts of the pregnancy that I want to keep documented. So here it goes. I started feeling movement about 3 weeks ago, but it was very sporadic. They are much stronger now and Justin even got to feel a few kicks last Saturday night. I will never get over how wonderful that feeling is! Also at the ultrasound the baby's heart rate was a healthy 160 beats per minute. Size wise I think so far I am the same size I was at this point with Carter, maybe a little smaller. I am sure its going to catch up with me soon however. It will be interesting to see what my weight is now that my morning sickness is pretty much gone - thank goodness!

Ultrasound!!!!!

This morning we headed off for my big ultrasound. The baby was very cooperative and there is no denying that we will be having another boy!!! He looks very healthy, which is what we were most concerned about. He is also measuring a week ahead now. Beside measuring ahead he is also just big. At 18 and a half weeks most babies weigh between 5 and 6 ounces. He is weighing it at 11 ounces right now - which is the average size of a 21 week old baby. So it looks like another big boy is on his way. The only concern was that my placenta is a little low. Most likely it will move up on his own, but I will be having another ultrasound near the beginning of the third trimester or so to make sure it has moved up. I will also most likely have yet another ultrasound towards the end to see how big this guy is. I will be seeing my doctor in about a week and a half where I will find out more, and to see if they will change my due date now or not. The boys are excited to have a brother (although Tyler's first reaction was "but I wanted a sister") and Justin and I are glad that we know whats coming to us!

Home Depot

On Saturday we were running around doing errands and needed to go to Home Depot -always a favorite place for the boys. When we got there we saw it was customer appreciation day as well! They had a fire truck there, free goodies, stickers, and popcorn. The boys also each got their own kid sized Home Depot apron and got to build a birdhouse. We decided we would let them paint them as well. Tyler picked out purple and Carter picked out green and they had a blast painting away. Tyler, being the more meticulous one, made sure every spot was covered. Carter, being more free spirited, has a more splotchy birdhouse. Both of them are very proud of their work. The boys also had fun helping daddy fix our fence that was blown over on Friday. They are both becoming such great helpers!

Daddy Time

I think I have found the reason (at least one of them) of why the boys love having daddy time. Meaning they are home with daddy while I am gone. As I was up loading pictures I came across this video. Yes, those are my boys in their pajamas, eating chocolate cake for breakfast, singing about how great their dad is. I think I would have to agree.

Colorado Weather

You gotta love the weather here in Colorado. The past week it has been beautiful. We have been spending our days outside, riding bikes, digging in the garden to get it ready to plant flowers (which we wont get for another 2 months), going to the playground, etc. etc. Then today rolls in. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring and today would have been Tyler's last day of school before Spring Break. Instead we have 3 inches of snow on the ground and school was canceled. Luckily the boys are having as much fun in the snow as they had in the sun. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Super Saturday

On Saturday we had a great family day. Tyler had been wanting to go see the big planes on the Air Force Academy, so on Saturday off we went. The boys loved running around the planes and finding the guns on them. After we saw a couple planes we drove around and went to my old playground. The boys loved swinging, playing on the "planes" they had and then giving it a try on the obstacle course. From there we went to the visitor's center where they each got to pick out a plane. Tyler got a F-16 and Carter got an older plane, a P-51. We then went to see one more plane before heading to lunch and some errands. Then the night the fun continued when we joined Heather for some bowling. Tyler was really into it. Clapping for everyone, and always excited when he got some pins down. Carter had more fun running around, but when he did bowl he actually did very well. With the help of his bumpers he bowled a 115! For the second game the boys were getting tired so they used the ramp. Both games both the boys beat my score! It was a great family day! Tyler loves his new plane and wants to learn more about it. He loved watching some videos of the Thunderbirds doing their air show and is very excited to watch them during graduation this year. He also now says he wants to be an Air Force pilot, which I like a lot better than Army man!

Dads and Donuts

On Friday, Justin took the day off to go to Dads and Donuts with Tyler at school. They dropped me and Carter off at church before they went to Starbucks for a hot chocolate before school started. Once school started they got to have donuts and some juice. Then Tyler got to show Justin his classroom and they played with the planes, cars, and some dinosaurs. Soon it was time for the dads to leave so Justin then went and picked up Carter from his class at church. They went home and surprised me with making a chocolate cake! When they came back to pick up Tyler and me, we had a nice lunch out and then all the boys (and McCormick Bear of course) decorated the cake. It was a very nice family day, and a very yummy cake!

McCormick Bear

Tyler was the star student at school this week. He got to bring snack each day (a very big decision) and then got to bring home McCormick Bear. McCormick bear goes everywhere with us and we write in his journal about the activities we have been doing. Tyler and McCormick Bear have been playing fire firefighter, cuddling on the couch, and in the car Tyler makes sure McCormick Bear is also safe and has his seat belt on. We will bring McCormick back to school on Monday to share his adventures from the Pederson house. I think we will all miss making sure he is always with us, no matter where we go.

Outside Time!

The weather has still been very nice so the boys have been playing a lot outside, and without injuries! Here are just some pictures of them playing soccer together, and just enjoying the weather.

Preschool Sings!

Tyler sang at church today with his preschool class. He did very well, singing all the words and doing all the hand motions. He actually sang in two different services. For the first service we let Carter go to Sunday School, but for the second service we brought him into big church with us. He seemed to enjoy it and actually did very well for his first time. I will try to get video of the performances up soon.

Finally - Zoo time!

The boys have been asking for weeks it seems to go to the zoo. Unfortunate it has been to cold or we have been to busy, until yesterday that is. They were so excited to go. They both got ready on their own and reminded me to make sure I made their lunches. We did all the usual things - feed the giraffes and see all the animals. The boys also got to help feed a opossum in the Lodge and I let them play on the playground for a bit. Some of the animals weren't out, but we still had a great time.

16 weeks appointment

Yesterday I had my 16 week appointment. I was excited to see that I have finally gained some weight - 4 pound, so 5 pounds total. I am measuring right on track as of now and got to hear the heartbeat. It took awhile as the baby was hiding. Every once in a while we could hear the heartbeat behind mine. Eventually we got to hear it all on its own. After drawing some blood it was back to work. In just two and half weeks I will have my big ultrasound! Here is my 16 week belly picture. Please excuse the hair and expression on my face. I was practically asleep by the time Justin got home to take the picture.

Another Day, Another Injury

Well is has been beautiful the past few days here, which means the boys have been spending a lot of time outside. Yesterday they decided they would climb a tree. Tyler then fell out of the tree. His pants got stuck on a branch and then he fell, hitting his ear against another branch. The branch cut the top of his ear open. I called our pediatrician who said as long as I had the bleeding under control I could come in in an hour instead of rushing to the E.R. Tyler didn't want anything to do with me touching his ear, but I eventually got it cleaned and got him to calm down. When we got to the doctors it already looked much better. He once again didn't want them touching it, but let them look at it and clean it up. They decided that they could glue it together - so no stitches! This made Tyler feel a lot better (I think he remembered Carter getting his stitches). He did a great job while they glued it together. He keeps asking when the glue will come off. He still doesn't like showing it to people or having people touch his ear. However he now has no pain and doesn't even remember which ear it was that he hurt.

Compassion International

Tyler had another field trip on Friday to Compassion International. Justin stayed home with Carter so that Tyler and I could still attend. It was a lot of fun and I think Tyler got a lot out of it. First they showed a video of Haiti, before the earthquake. It showed how kids lived in Haiti compared to how we live here. We then got to see some toys that kids around the world made out of trash, because they couldn't afford to buy toys. Then the kids got to see a replica of a house that would be in some of the poorer countries. It was smaller than the boys room and seven people shared. They chose 7 kids to get in and Tyler was one of them. At the end of the tour each child got a flag of one of the countries Compassion helps. Tyler got India's flag. He was very excited to show it off to daddy and Carter when we got home. He still talks about some of the things we saw.

Sick Boy

All last week Carter had a little bit of a cough. It got pretty bad Thursday afternoon so I took him in just in case. They determined he had RSV and possible pneumonia. If his fever went up anymore (it was up to 102) then we were to come back in for chest x-rays. Luckily the fever went away and never came back. Also he is on breathing treatments and he is taking those very well and those seem to help a lot. Since he no longer has a fever and has had his cough for so long, he is no longer contagious so we went to church today. He had a great day and hardly coughed at all! While we were in the waiting room at the doctor's I had him wear a mask. He loved wearing it and continued to wear it wherever he went. The picture is at King Soopers where we stopped to get his inhaler on the way home.