Justice Minded

Some friends of ours recently visited some other friends of ours who are living and working in East Jerusalem. They brought back a rock (like the one David slung at Goliath) for Eli and this awesome t-shirt. You can't quite see it in the picture, but the shirt says this:
"Peace
It's abeautiful thing to see
Jerusalem"

Yes, Peace is abeautiful - and a beautiful - thing to see. Thanks for the t-shirt friends.

July has been a crazy month for the Petersen family. At the end of June, Eli turned 2! To mark the big occasion, we gathered with his grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles (although we missed Aunt Cherie terribly) and three cousins. And because he's so grown up, he has acquired his very own pets and now sleeps in a "big boy bed."

Eli is the proud owner of three guppy-like gold fish. The orange one is named "Fish" and the white with orange and black spotted ones are "Orange" and "Brown." He's very excited to feed them and watch them swim around in the aquarium in his room.

Shortly after our week at summer camp, Eli helped his Papa remove the front railing of his crib and replace it with the low railing the extends half the length of his bed. He can get in an out himself and was so excited to help with the process. The first night was a little rough - Jeff finally discovered that he was afraid that the tiger (from the zoo just a few blocks away) would get him without the front wall of his crib. It was very heartbreaking and yet very sweet that he had a conversation about it with Jeff. We've had a few issues with staying in the bed for naps, but he seems to be getting the hang of it.

Other birthday highlights were the tricycle he got from Grandma and Grandpa Petersen and the trains from Grandma and Grandpa Traxler (and Burtie the Bus from cousin Ellie and family).

Since Eli's birthday we've spent a week at Camp Geneva as chaplains, a night at the camper with Grandma and Grandpa Petersen along with a morning at the beach with Jeff's side of the family. We've spend a good deal of time at Pretty Lake and Eli's becoming a stellar swimmer. Last weekend we took in a Tiger's baseball game with Jeff's family, too. It's been a busy month. Check out all the pictures.

One may be the loneliest number . . .

But we're okay with that. I just realized today that I didn't add a post with the results of our appointment. There is one - and only one - healthy looking baby in there and I am so happy to hear it. After our appointment, we spent the rest of the day preparing for Eli's 2nd Birthday party, which was great. Then we went to our niece's birthday party in the morning, back home to switch some laundry, down to Pretty Lake for the afternoon, and back home to prepare for a week of chaplaining at Camp Geneva. We've been keeping busy. Thanks to all of you who have been thinking of us in our waiting.

Adventures in waiting

Yesterday I had my first prenatal doctor's visit for this pregnancy. It went well, but has turned into a bit of an adventure.

It began when my doctor, whom I think is wonderful, seemed very interested in the fact that I am significantly more nauseous with this pregnancy than I was with Eli. Then she explained what the rest of the appointment would entail. At nine week's (which is where I'm at) they don't generally check for a heartbeat yet as it's often too early to pick it up. But she would check the size of my uterus and, if I was measuring bigger for some reason, they might try to see if they could pick one up. So, she measured and . . . I was measuring at about 12 weeks along. Interesting. The doctor informed me that this could just be that, because it's my second, I'm just expanding faster at the beginning - this apparently is common for many women.

Anyway, since I was measuring at 12 weeks, she decided to go ahead and see if she could pick up a heart beat. She assured me that if she didn't pick one up, it wasn't anything to worry about. It either meant that the baby was just still too low in my pelvic bone to pick up yet or - and this is where it started to get really fun - that there is more than one! Yeah, okay - nothing to worry about. So, she checked and, of course, didn't find the heartbeat.

The moral of the story is that I have an ultrasound scheduled for next Friday morning (Eli's birthday) to (I hope) confirm that there is only one baby. This should be a fun week.

New Words

Eli is picking up new words at an amazing rate. And the ones he already knows are getting clearer and clearer. But they are words of his choosing. I've been trying to teach him "big brother" for a little bit now, but it just doesn't come out. Yes, Eli will be a big brother come January. So we've got about seven more months to work on it.

These are a few of my favorite things

A few weeks ago some girlfriends and I headed out the the Heritage Hill yard sales. We got excited about this day and made plans for snack and beverage provisions for our shopping because Heritage Hill is one of the more upscale sections of the city - and there were over 50 sales. In the end, I wasn't terribly impressed, but I did get a few good deals - like a coffee table for my office that just needed some paint and this great backpack for Eli for $.50. The animal on the back may be a dog or a monkey, we're not sure - and a few people even say it's a bear. But Eli loves it and can now carry his own diaper bag!


He's also big on helping in the garden again this year and is really enjoying his watering can. We've had to give him restriction on what he can water; he's allowed to water anything he can reach without actually walking into the garden patch. Otherwise, he gets so excited about watering the plants in the back that he forgets there are plants in the front and walks all over them. Seriously, though, he's a great helper - we've got lots of potted things and I have one small watering can. It takes me about ten trips on my own to water everything, so I welcome Eli's gusto on this one.

Mother's Days

How can one boy grow so much in one year?

Mother's Day 2007.
Mother's Day 2008