A fun day together!

What a fun Saturday morning we had! After Megan woke up, we went to a local restaurant for breakfast. Megan enjoyed sharing our very yummy omelettes and home fries. She also enjoyed tossing the spoons on the floor - again and again!

Then, we were off to Toys 'R Us for a birthday present. Megan got a $3 gift card in the mail from Geoffrey the Giraffe - and I had a coupon besides - so, we thought we could find something fun there. Because Megan is part of Geoffrey's birthday club (free to sign up online), she also got a special birthday balloon and crown when we got inside the store. She became disinterested in the crown pretty quickly - but, she is still enjoying the balloon at home!

Once we found Megan a few appropriate gifts, we left for her picture appointment at Sears. Wow! Our photographer, Ashley, was really good and patient. It was very hard to keep Megan still...and, even though it was HOT in the studio and I was sweating trying to get Megan to smile, we ended up with some really nice pictures! Both Ben and I were pleased with the outcome. We hadn't planned on getting family pictures done, but, Ashley asked...so, we did. I'm glad - they turned out really nice, too.

The package we purchased included a cd with all of the pictures that were taken. Purchasing the cd gives us the pictures' copyright, so that we can order extra prints (cheaper!) elsewhere - or easily share them here on the blog with all of you! (P.S. Grandparents, don't worry... we ordered nice big prints and wallets for each of you! They won't come for a week or so, though...so, these should tide you over until then!) :-)

Ok...enjoy ALL the pictures!

Boy or Girl?

Just wanted to share a picture of Megan's new cousin! Stacey and Andy are expecting #3 (for those of you that don't know), and yesterday, Stacey had her 20 wk ultrasound. Her doctor couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl...and gave a guess of 60% boy...so, I'd say we don't really know! lol! It looks like we'll have to wait for another month to see if anything can be seen -or not!- more clearly.

Everything else looks good with the new baby...and, we can't wait to meet him/her in November! I think it'll be fun to see how Megan reacts to a baby cousin! It's too bad we don't live closer so that she'll be able to play with him/her more often. Although, I wouldn't feel too badly for her - she has plenty of little friends at church for socialization!

Hi, there, little baby!! Uncle Ben and Aunt Stephanie love you!


And, here's our Megan. She has hundreds of dollars of toys from grandparents...and, yet, she found joy in the peanut butter jar yesterday! lol! She chased and carried it around for at least a half hour after discovering it in the pantry, and then moved on to play with the mustard bottle!! What a silly girl! :-) (No toys for Christmas, please...she'll prefer the boxes!) lolol! Or, hey...why not just buy her a jar of chunky?

I have an appointment at Sears on Saturday for Megan to get her one-year pictures taken. I figured it was about time to have some "real" pictures taken by someone that knows what they're doing (I hope!). I know they'll try to sell us more pictures than we need - and, Ben's coming along which may mean we buy them! lolol! It's VERY funny to me to watch daddy in regards to what his little girl "needs"! :-) We're also planning to do a little birthday shopping...that'll be fun! Can you believe Megan's almost ONE?!?!?! How different she is from that teeny teeny bundle we brought home!

H-O-T!

Phew!! It was reaaallly hot yesterday and supposed to be just as bad today - I'd call it oppressive! The heat made it hard to breathe. So, Ben put the living room AC in last night for me. He offered several weeks ago, but, Megan and I have been fine so far throughout the day. I really hate the feeling of the house being all closed up - but, comfort won out! I'm glad...already have it running full blast this morning. It IS nice to get that humidity out of the air, too! Although, at 8:00 a.m., my hair was already curling...and, I don't have curly hair!! lol! (Now, to try and fix it before church tonight!)

Here are a few pictures for you -

Megan before church Sunday morning:


After a bath last night to cool down:


A HOT night for sleeping... (look how long -or tall?- she's getting!)

Hope you're all finding ways to stay cool!

A new door!

Grandpa and Grandma P came over on Saturday. Ben and his dad put in a new front door that's been in our plans for at least 3 years! Home improvement projects take time and money - both of which are usually in short supply around here - probably around your houses, too! :-) The installation went really smoothly and I'm soo happy with the end result! It looks great!


BEFORE:

DURING:




AFTER!


Megan played with Grandma during most of the afternoon. Or rather, Grandma and Mommy had to keep Megan from "helping" Daddy and Grandpa! She was pretty fascinated with the tools and empty hole in the wall!

Enjoying some of daddy's ice cream:

Somewhat homebound this week. Our car battery light keeps flickering on and off. Stopped at AutoZone on the way home from church yesterday -- and, it might be our alternator. So, Ben will take the car for repair tomorrow...and, I sit tight! After all the running around the last 2 weeks for doctor's appointments, it might be nice to be stuck for a few days! Speaking of doctors, it appears that both Megan and I are back to "normal" - Ben may have something to say about that! :-) Doctor thinks my rash was actually hives... what I may have reacted to, though, we don't know. Just finished my last dose of histamine blockers and praying it doesn't happen again!

Hope you all have a great week! Megan's finishing her lunch with very droopy eyes! I have laundry to do, but, maybe I can catch up on a book during her nap!

And the sickness goes on...and on...

...since I last wrote! On Friday morning, Megan woke up with a rash all over, and I thought it must be a reaction to the amoxicillian. So, I immediately took her to the dr's. Her doctor didn't think it was a reaction to the medicine. Megan had a viral throat infection that was almost healed on Wednesday when we found out about the ear infection. The doctor said the rash was the end of that virus. He gave me instructions to give Megan benadryl if it seemed to itch.

I woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat and sneezing NONstop! I joked with a few people that I'd probably end up with a rash...! Megan's rash was all gone when she woke up Sunday morning...and, my cold (or whatever it is) was still making me miserable - I've never sneezed so much in my life!! (The most exercise I've had in awhile! lol!) I woke up yesterday morning feeling MUCH better...but, I was itching!! lol!! Yep...I got the rash!! It's a bit more patchy on me than it was on Megan...but, man, does it ITCH!!! Feels (and looks like) mosquito bites...aaahhh! Megan's rash lasted 2 days...so, I'm praying mine lasts no longer than that as well! I gave Megan 2 doses of benadryl, even though she never seemed too bothered by the rash. For me, though, the benadryl has been GRRRREAT!! It has really helped control the itching! What a weird thing this has been!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:





Ben spent much of Saturday morning touching up the paint on our front porch. When he was finished...he noticed Razor had white patches of paint all over himself! Seems the dog was playing with one of the foam brushes that Ben set aside.


***On a side note,*** I spent some of this weekend backing up computer files and restoring our computer back to "new." I THOUGHT my address book was saved...but, what is on the disk is an older - at least a year old - version of people's addresses! Some I could remember...some I couldn't! If you usually get a blog update - but didn't - you'll need to email me your address! Either I forgot to put you on the blog update list...or, I got your address wrong! If you haven't been included on the blog update list, and would like to, just email me and I'll add you! It's just a quick email that lets you know whenever I add a new post.

Here's our email:
(peckfamily AT htva DOT net)

Have a great day...remember me as I itch in the HEAT! l0l! :-)

Awww...poor baby!

Megan's fever hadn't gone away yesterday, so I took her to see the doctor. She has her first ear infection! :-( Her doctor said it looks like it just started and wasn't too bad yet. He gave her some amoxicillian and hopefully she'll be feeling better in no time! One good thing - Megan got weighed while she was at the doctor's. People are always asking me how heavy she is, but I never know. I don't weigh her at home and just guess. Since she weighed 16 lbs at her 9 month appointment, I've been guessing somewhere between 17-18 lbs. Yesterday, Megan weighed 17 lbs with all her clothes and shoes on. Dr. Terwilliger was impressed that she was already walking - when he walked into the exam room, she was showing off! :-) I'm very pleased with our pediatrician - he always takes his time and explains to Megan what he's doing. He is very kind and caring - just the way a doctor should be! (And, he speaks normal English...so I always understand what he's doing and saying!! lol!)

So... Megan and I are just relaxing at home today and tomorrow...and probably the next day! Praying that the medicine works quickly, and Megan's back to normal soon!

Here are a few pictures of Megan playing outside the other day:



Reading a book and "peeking" at mama:


You can read a book better when it's upside-down!


Pooped after a loong afternoon at the dr's office:

Tuesday

A new puppy toy from Grandpa and Grandma P:

Such a big girl! (Thanks for the cute outfit, Em S!)

Napping

I just finished my first digital scrapbook!! I've been experimenting for awhile - trying to learn Photoshop Elements 3 by trial and error and reading LOTS of tutorials on the internet. I finally finished 20 pages and had a book printed. Several online printers do photo books, but, I've heard the best reviews of Shutterfly on my digital scrapping sites (I also had a coupon)! Now I can give a good review, too! I was very impressed with the speed (took less than a week) and the quality is great as well! My plan had been to make Megan a book of her first year - but, since my coupon expired before that - I just focused on her birth for my first experiment book. It turned out so well, that I WILL be making Megan a book each year! I have a slideshow on the left of all of the pages if you're interested. If you want to see it in person, just ask...I'm quite anxious to show it off! lol! :-)



Megan had a slight fever yesterday - and still does today. I want to say it's her teeth...but, not sure. Tylenol is helping - so is a nap! :-) Getting a tooth before her first birthday would certainly be nice! I'm starting to wonder if those teeth are EVER going to come in!!!

Lots of pictures from the weekend!

I took over 200 pictures this weekend!! And, most of them are Megan in her carseat - the camera entertained her! lolol! Don't worry...I won't share them all with you! Only 12... :-)

Ooooh! Grandpa and Grandma W have a kitty!!

Playing with Josiah...

A trip to BJs and sharing a book with Josiah:

Shopping is HARD work!

A nice visit with Great Grandma W:

BUBBLES!

An INSIDE swing!!! Wheeee!


Shopping (again!) and trying on a hat:


This time, with Caleb:


Trying to show love to Grandpa and Grandma W's kitty:


Heading home...

Too much excitement! All pooped out!

Wowee!

Didn't I just post Megan's 10 month picture?! I think I did!! :-) Anyway...here she is today...11 months old! Wow!



And here are a few pictures from last weekend. Megan was helping daddy put together the pressure washer he got for our anniversary/early Father's Day gift.

And, here's Megan just being cute (in an adorable outfit from Grandpa and Grandma P)! :-)

Looks like tomorrow is going to be warm...and Friday even warmer! Tomorrow and Friday I have to gather up all the baby stuff that Megan is finished borrowing from her cousins, Caleb and Josiah. We'll return it this weekend when we visit. Aunt Stacey needs to have time to sort it out before Megan's new cousin arrives in November!!!

Thanks for the emails and comments some of you have sent/left. We really love hearing from you!!

Walking video...

It's been very difficult to get a video of Megan's first steps. As soon as she sees me get out the camera, she plops down and speed crawls to get the lens cap! :-) I succeeded last night in capturing just a few toddles to Daddy.

Enjoy! :-)

JUNE!!!!

Can you believe it?? Happy June! It has certainly been feeling like summer the last few days...very hot and humid. Hasn't seemed to bother Megan too much...and, so far, not me either! But, I remind myself that it IS only the first of June! We still have several months of probably very sticky weather to endure!

Megan should be able to get some relief. I dug out her little pool that someone gave her at one of her baby showers. Just need to blow it up and fill it up! (It's too tiny for me to fit in with her! Maybe I'll at least be able to get my feet in there!) Getting out the pool also means Megan needs her bathing suits! I found them this morning, and had Megan try them on.

Here's Megan modeling the Walmart clearance version. Complete with bright colors and grass skirt, Megan will be ready for any summer pool party:





Here's Megan again, modeling our sweet pink and red suit. It's a bit big, so she'll probably use it for those later summer swims.

Now, I just need to buy some swim diapers and sunblock! Megan is going to visit her cousins next weekend, and Aunt Stacey said their pool is all set up. Looks like Megan will be all ready to be a water baby!

Our dumpster was carted away on Wednesday. We had NO problem filling it to the brim! (We probably should've gotten just a smidge bigger one!) But...we were able to toss the really important things - like all the junk from gutting the back porch and redoing our soffet. It feels good to know it's gone!

Hope you're all surviving the heat! Drop us a note! Say hi!