merry christmas!

merry christmas! we hope all our family and friends are enjoying this wonderful day and creating lots of awesome memories together! we have had a fabulous day so far opening gifts, laughing, lounging, eating lots of fattening food, and taking it easy. we miss our family members who are scattered in washington, utah, california, texas, africa, and korea and hope they are all having a fantastic day. we feel awful for reagan who is in the hospital and wish her a speedy recovery. milk it for all it's worth baby! hahahaha!

mango is a little upset that she didn't find a gift with her name on it under the tree, so we slapped a bow on her head in hopes that it would cheer her up. do you think it worked? ya, i didn't think so either...

hopefully no one is feeling this way after opening their gifts...

one month old & another new moon parody

crazy, how fast this first month went! sage's little personality is coming through a little more each day along with her vision. it's so cute to see her squirm when she see's me coming near her. steve and i are getting a little bit better at adjusting to 2 kids, and i'm learning more each day that its ok to ask for help from others. i have the hardest time doing that, but know that it's ok to ask for help especially when others offer it.

sage has also recently became in awe of all lights and the blinds. she is perfectly content sitting in her bouncer, while tightly wrapped, sucking like crazy at her binky while watching the lights for long periods of time (as long as i am within smelling distance). this is nice as it gives me a few more minutes to take a shower or to eat something. i have become pretty good at eating my food super fast as it seems like i don't have much time to do that. i am also learning how to clean, do laundry, discipline brynn, and check my email one handed since this little squirt can't bear to be put down at times.

brynn is getting a little better at being nicer to steve when he is holding sage. although, she doesn't allow him to hold her unless she is seated right next to him...i guess we are making some progress at least. brynn was in the background when i took the picture below, throwing a FIT as i wanted to get a picture of sage and steve only.

a while back, i saw becky higgins (an amazing scrapbooker who i have idolized since 2003) suggest in creating keepsakes to each month, take a picture of your baby next to an object that doesn't grow. i thought this idea was brilliant so i bought a stuffed animal for sage and promised myself i would do this every month on the 17th. its a great way to see just how much your little one grows! it's easy to look at pictures and say "ya, my baby was small", but you just have no idea when you compare them to something that stays the same size! sage was not cooperating much with me, so excuse the sad pout...

my friend karen l. had an extra new moon ticket and asked if i wanted to go with her and a few girls from the area to see it on opening night. the movie started at 11:59pm and i of course agreed to take it off her hands! ya it was at a crazy time of night, but i figured i might as well be out doing something productive as i'm up at that time anyways. it was great! so much better then the first. it was also pretty funny to see all the CRAZED teenage fans wearing "team edward" and "team jacob" t shirts and going INSANE as soon as the movie started. i was worried about leaving sage with steve as he had to work the next day and i felt bad with the lack of sleep he would get. but, of course she was fabulous with him and only woke up once for the 4 hours i was gone. of course, i rolled my eyes and laughed numerous times at kristen stewart's crappy acting skills during the movie. that girl bugs me! gah. i wish they had casted someone else for bella...she is such a pathetic actress and so ungrateful when interviewed! just go to you tube and watch a few interviews that she did for the twilight movie's. she acts like she has somewhere else more important to go and at times rolls her eye's at the questions asked! grrrr...i wish they cast someone like taylor swift for example who does a MUCH better job while making fun of the first movie as show here (i can't post the video from snl, so click on the link to watch):

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/digital-short-firelight/1173548/

i LOVE the line, "i do believe i'm gunna strangle someone...by accident" HAHAHAHA! I LOVE IT!

week three & brillant walmart employee's

phew...this week was killer. sage decided to become quite the fussy baby and nothing seemed to ease her discomfort. my good friend emily bought me this stuff from baby bliss called "gripe water" that worked wonders for brynn when she was a newborn, so we bought a bottle here thinking it would ease sage's tummy issues. it didn't do too much. i tried putting it in her mouth with a dropper right before i nursed her and even tried mixing it in with her bottle when i pumped, but it didn't seem to make any difference. it was especially frustrating at nights as she would NOT sleep unless she could smell me. so steve and i spent a good 4 days having her sleep (if you call 30 minute intervals sleep...) between us as a last resort as we were sick of walking back and forth between our rooms to go and calm her down. i am not a fan of co sleeping, as i mentioned before, as i'm terrified of rolling over on her and every little squeak and coo she makes wakes me right up. so, i was a very mean and grumpy mom this week due to lack of sleep. sage just was so gassy for some reason and i had no idea why. i even cut out caffeine to see if that would help and it didn't! needless to say that was torture on me as dt. coke is my mommy gasoline...

sage is still eating super well and not having any problems nursing or taking a bottle. i am a milk machine (seriously, i could be a wet nurse for all of eagle river) and have a freezer stocked full of milk just in case. didn't the prophet say something about food storage for babies too?! hahaha, just kidding. she is also starting to get the adorable inner thigh rolls (which are only cute when you are a baby...i never get compliments on mine) and michelin man arms. she is still loving to be swaddled tightly, and loves to be held all the time. she gets away with this as she is just so cute and a joy to have in our house even with all the screams, crazy sleep schedule and 10+ diaper changes a day.

at the beginning of the 3rd week, her umbilical cord FINALLY fell off! i have no idea why it took forever, but it was annoying. her doctors told us NOT to use rubbing alcohol to clean it (which we were instructed to do 3 years previously with brynn) so we waited and waited and never touched it...i was eager to give her a bath as rubbing her down with washcloths wasn't cleaning her too well. needless to say, we were elated when it finally did fall off! we also discovered that sage is sportin' a crazy cute outie for a belly button! i was a little nervous thinking it might have been a hernia as it looked more like a mini elephant trunk (maybe she was just trying to go with her nursery theme?!), but it's not. it also sort of resembles a bloated cheerio. she loved her first bath and got pissed at us when it was time to get out. i was happy to get all the nasty cheese out of her pits, in between her fingers and toes, and to have her smell like a baby once again and not like mommy's B-O.

brynn is a little "too helpful" and has to be reminded 1000+ times a day to not pick baby up, not to breath right in her face, only to kiss her head or toes, and to give baby some personal space! she is always thisclose to baby which sage is not too cool with. it's especially awful in the mornings as brynn has AWFUL dragon breath and thinks that baby would enjoy the stank aroma while she gets an inch away from her face...i'm grateful that brynn loves her at least and hasn't shown any signs of jealousy. although at times, i am losing my cool as it drives me insane to always have to remind her to back off.

i try to keep brynn busy and thinking she is helpful by having her do random tasks for me. she has no problem taking all the diapers out of the package and lining them up in the basket under the changing table for me, folding baby's socks, running upstairs to get the wipes and burp cloths for me when we are downstairs, counting her books, making sure mango is still in the house (i am not that creative..), and looking outside the front window for daddy.

this was also the first time i attempted to run errands with both girls. we went to the walmart up the hill from us after i had fed and changed sage, and made sure brynn used the potty. it was going pretty well until sage decided she was still hungry and of course i was still in the middle of shopping. so i went to a changing room to feed her while yelling at brynn to NOT open the door. and of course brynn had no problem announcing to the world that "sage is eating mommy's boob" and "mom, why do you have big boobs?". thank goodness there weren't too many people around. as we were checking out, i was asked the strangest question...which pretty much sums up the IQ of all walmart employee's. the lady (who was in her early 20's) looks in the car seat which is propped up in the front of the shopping cart, and asks "is that a real baby?". wow. really?! no. she is not real. i, a grown woman like to shop with a baby doll just to confuse people. of course, i correct her and say that she is only 3 weeks old and is just really small. she then looks at her and asks "whats wrong with her nose? why is it all white?". again...wow. have you no tact woman?! earlier that week, sage started to get an awful rash all over her face complete with some white heads all over her little nose. i never thought it was all that obvious unless you got super close to her...i tell her that her skin is just working it's way out and trying to get used to no longer being inside of me. she shakes her head and says "no. i have seen a lot of babies but NONE with that much acne on their face". nice. i was so pissed and all of a sudden super self conscious for my daughter but of course say nothing. as i'm putting all the bags in the shopping cart she ends with "yep, she pretty much has the whitest nose i've ever seen". thanks woman, i hate you.

steve has been great, like always, by letting me get out and have lindsay time. he is so patient with the girls and has no problem feeding sage for me while i am out trying to regain some sanity.

i have started going back to the gym (i know i know, you are suppose to wait 6 weeks) and it feels awesome. obviously, i can't do much, but it feels great to sweat a little and work towards my goal of losing this weight. i also started tanning again and dang! a tan baggy stomach looks so much better then a white translucent one.

week two

steve went back to work the middle of the week and it was awful! if i had time to check my email, it was considered an amazing day! needless to say, i always had at least 60 unread messages along with people pissed at me for not uploading pictures of sage on facebook. also, i seemed to never get clean enough! i always smelled like a friggin foot even though i showered every morning and night.

i was also pretty teary for a few days when things were not going smoothly. there was one specific time where i had finally got sage to sleep, put a movie on downstairs for brynn, and decided to take a shower. i put sage in her bouncer so i could watch her (i was still weary leaving her unattended when steve wasn't home as brynn kept trying to pick her up) while i was in the bathroom and started to shave my horrific chewbacca legs. brynn came in to use the bathroom while i was shaving, then demanded i wipe her right then. i told her to wait a second, but she was eager to get downstairs to finish her movie so she kept getting louder and louder which lead to sage waking up. i was so pissed. all i wanted to do was shave in silence, but i guess that is too much to ask for. so i sat in the tub bawling while brynn screamed at me, and sage cried her eyes out. thank goodness i have an awesome husband who is cool with me leaving to get some "me time" in as this saved me from running away several times. i ran several errands at night when he was at home with the girls so i could clear my head and feel like a human again.

halloween went really fast and i was bummed that we didn't all dress up again like we did last year. but brynn had fun (even though it was INSANELY cold outside by the time she went trick or treating with steve) and i stayed home passing out candy to kids. sage was too small for her caterpillar costume, but we got a few pictures in anyways and laughed our heads off as it totally drowned her!

i am also so VERY thankful that brynn goes to preschool as those mornings she is gone, i was able to get some shut eye in while sage napped. i also have awesome friends that were more then willing to help take brynn to and from school for me. this saved me! you guys are great!

sage also had her 2 week appointment and was up an ounce from her birth weight (8.2). this surprised me as i was so sure she would be closer to 9 as she eats like crazy! i asked the doctor this, and he asks "well, does she poop a lot?"

"of course!" i said

"well, thats why"

huh. so i guess this little poo poo princess of ours isn't putting on weight as fast as she could...

week one

dang, i'm a loser. here its been almost 2 months since i had sage and i'm just finally getting around to blogging more about her! it's been insane at the peterson household as we are all trying to adjust to having 2 kiddo's. not only that, but the sleep deprivation doesn't help much so i'm incredibly forgettful and slow. blah, i don't know how people do this while holding it all together! although the occasional diet coke or diet dr pepper helps...i love you mcdonalds with your $1 large soft drinks!

week one:

wow, what a hard week. sage decided that waking up every 30 minutes at night was acceptable so i was basically a zombie during this time. it's a good thing she is cute...luckily, the air force now gives spouses 10 days of paternity leave so steve was able to help me out a ton here at home. like i had mentioned before, brynn was acting out in a weird way when sage arrived so during the day she was either in time out for hitting/talking back or getting tabasco sauce in her mouth. i had NEVER heard of a child lashing out on the DAD whenever he would come around the new baby! but of course, we get the pleasure of being the first family to experience this... she seriously thought that the new baby was her and mine to share and NOT for steve. whenever he would hold sage, she would freak out and hit steve and tell him to "get his own baby!". insane, huh?! so it was a constant war zone here by trying to protect sage whenever brynn would come after steve. luckily, brynn ADORES this new baby and has yet to intentionally hurt her. i'm sure that will change once she gets mobile and shows interest in brynn's toys...

also, i had a hard time accepting that it's OK if my house is dirty and laundry and dishes are not being done. i really had to stop myself from doing these things when sage was napping as i too needed to sleep!

we live in an awesome ward who helped us out so much with meals the first 2 weeks. it was so nice to have something besides cereal or fast food to eat at night. making meals was obviously not a priority for me as i was busy trying to figure out what sage needed and preventing brynn from killing steve.

my uncle jeff from the seattle area was up in anchorage for work this week, so we had him over and talked for the afternoon. he is so hilarious! i always wanted to be like him when i was younger as he always made everyone laugh and was fun to be around. i think my little brother anthony (well, if you consider 23 young) and jeff look so similar. it could also be that i miss my brother terribly so that could have a lot to do with it too. it sucks being so far away from family. especially when you have a new baby and wish they were around to see her.

also, this was the week my milk came in and dang!

i basically went from this:

to this:

good times...i no longer wish i had bigger tata's as they SUCK! not being able to bring your arms down to your sides isn't too cool. thanks, but no thanks.