Peterson Family Blog

Happy Birthday Carterman!

2010-01-04T08:57:00.002-05:00

Happy 4th Birthday to my baby boy Carter Alexander! We love you little man.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T09:45:00.000-05:00

More changes!

2009-11-10T16:17:00.003-05:00

Apologies to those of you that actually follow this blog. I moved to Wordpress about a year ago, but realized I had to pay for them in addition to our domain name. And being the miser (HA!) I am, I moved back to Blogger where its nice and free. Yeah, so the templates are boring. Whatever. You know we all have more personality than I could ever create over the internet. And I know you all only come here to click on the links to pictures and videos of the kids.

So let's pick this thing back up!

Changes are a comin'

2008-10-27T10:47:00.000-04:00

I've been fooling around with our blog template, so you might have noticed some color and layout changes in the past few weeks. Things are going to continue to change until I have the site just the way I want it. I'm just not too keen on the templates available on Blogger, so I may move over to WordPress. But that's just between me and you, mmkay?

Boys & Trains

2008-10-05T19:55:00.002-04:00

Carter still loves cars and trucks, but he's added trains to the list of things he loves. So today we had a Mommy & Carter day at the Whippany Railway Museum for their Pumpkin Festival and a train ride. We met up with Carter's best friend Garrett and Garrett's mommy. We all rode on a diesel locomotive then looked at pumpkins and the little electric train set the museum has set up outside. It was a perfect day! Check out a few pictures here.

Quick Update

2008-09-13T10:18:00.004-04:00

It's been awhile since I've updated you all. Between work, the house and kids we don't have time for much else. But we're all well. Brian is gearing up for the Series 6 exam, Carter is stepping up a bit on his potty learning and Natalie is a 4 month old angel. As for me, it's mostly "business as usual". Check out our pictures to see how much the kids have grown!

I also want to congratulate my friends Matt & Stephanie on the birth of their baby girl, Emma Jayne. Well done guys, she's gorgeous!

In remembrance of September 11, 2001

2008-09-11T09:31:00.001-04:00

RIP Leroi Moore

2008-08-20T11:16:00.003-04:00

We are shocked and saddened at the sudden passing of the saxophonist of the Dave Matthews Band, Leroi Moore. Our thoughts are with his family and the band.

Shout out to my Dad

2008-08-19T20:53:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday to the original "Big Papi". Love you, Old Man!

Casa de Peterson

2008-07-25T15:25:00.006-04:00

We bought a house! We found a lovely little expanded ranch in New Providence. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a full finished basement with a separate laundry room and an awesome bi-level backyard. Now the kids will have a dedicated play room for those too-cold-to-go-outside days! It's going to be so nice to have the living room back as a normal adult space. There's also a killer park/playground a block or so away that we've already taken Carter to play at a few times.

The house was built in 1951 but renovated in 2001 by the current occupants. The outside of house is yellow with green shutters on the 2 windows that face the street and there is a cool red door. The interior colors are pretty nice too - the dining/living rooms, basement and hallway are a light yellow, the kitchen is "pumpkin", and the upstairs bathroom is a very pale lavender. We are changing the kids' room colors as the current owners have girls in what will be Carter's room (and it's pink) and a boy in what will be Natalie's room (it's, of course, blue). The cool thing is the ceiling in Natalie's room is painted like the sky - very soft blue with white clouds. We're going to leave it like that but paint the walls a light pastel green. Carter's room will be painted a barely there blue. The master bedroom is currently green, which I'm not too crazy about. But we haven't decided what we're going to do in there yet.

The appliances in kitchen are all updated. The oven/stove (gas, yay!) and dishwasher (FINALLY after 4 years of hand washing dishes, I'm ready to break that bad boy in!) are black/stainless steel, and we bought a stainless steel fridge. The counter tops are nothing special material-wise, but they have a nice modern marble-y look to them and they look great with the maple cabinets. The flooring in the kitchen and basement is a nice tile and there are hardwood floors throughout the house.

We close on Wednesday, July 30th, so we've got a lot going on for the next few days in preparation. I can't believe we are finally going to be in our own home!

Photo credit: Getty Images

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T14:04:00.003-04:00

Natalie's First Bath

2008-06-04T13:17:00.003-04:00

Following in her brother's footsteps, it took longer than usual for Natalie's umbilical cord to come off. When it finally did we were able to give her a real bath!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

BabyGirl has arrived!

2008-05-20T08:38:00.004-04:00

Natalie Marie

Born May 9, 2008
6 lbs 6 oz
18.5 in

4 Years of Peterson

2008-04-17T11:37:00.003-04:00

Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary to us!

3D Ultrasound

2008-02-16T12:37:00.002-05:00

This morning we had a 3D ultrasound done so we could get a sneak peek at Baby Girl. She was quite active the entire time and very close to the uterine wall, so the pictures didn't come out as clear as they could have. But it was really cool to see her. It's still hard to tell if she's going to look like Carter did when he was born, or if she'll be more of a Gonzalez. She had her legs crossed at the ankles and was sort of sitting on her hands for most of the session. Only a couple more months until we get to see her in person!! Check out pictures in Baby Girl's collection.

Carter likes to read!

2008-01-31T19:52:00.001-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Carter's 2nd Birthday

2008-01-07T08:39:00.000-05:00

Carter turned 2 on Friday! Since he is such a car & truck fiend we thought it would be fun to take him to look at a fire truck up close and personal. We're lucky to have a fireman in the family, Brian's brother Karl. We met up with Karl at the Verona fire house and walked around the garage a bit. Carter got to climb up and sit in the driver seat of a fire truck, the captain's truck and the fire investigation car. He loved it so much he didn't want to leave! We went to Brian's parents for dinner, cake and presents. Carter got a nice puzzle from Namma and Dampa and Mater the Tow Truck from Mommy & Daddy.

Pictures here.

Merry Christmas (late) & Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T12:11:00.000-05:00

For Christmas, Namma Natalie hooked Carter up with a Harley Davidson Action Sounds Trike. Carterman loves his new bike. Namma & Dampa Peterson got Carter a sweet Radio Flyer wagon. We can't wait until the weather is nice enough to use it all the time! We hope everyone was on Santa's nice list and got everything they wanted.

We're a tired old couple. Actually, we're just tired. Carter was in bed at 8:30 and Brian and I were asleep by 10:30 on New Year's Eve. Pathetic, yes. But hey, we have an almost 2 year old - that in itself is exhausting business. Put working and me being pregnant on top of that... fuggedaboutit.

Brian, Carter, Baby Girl and I wish you a very blessed New Year!

Love,
The Petersons

It's a...

2007-12-17T14:15:00.000-05:00

GIRL!

Just as we suspected (and hoped), Baby Peterson #2 is a girl! We went this morning for our ultrasound, and the lil princess was sleeping and chillin' out the entire time. The sonographer was even jiggling and prodding my belly to try and rouse the baby, but she was not having it! A couple times she put her hand up near her forehead as if to say, "Please, no photographs now. I'm getting my beauty sleep". We got to see her in 4D but since she was sleeping there wasn't much action. We got print-outs of some different scans, but nothing electronic... sorry! From what I saw, I think she is going to look more like me than Brian, but I guess we'll find out in May!

Thanksgiving in CA

2007-11-28T11:24:00.000-05:00

We just spent a really nice week in California. We stayed with Brian's brother in Irvine and spent some time in San Diego visiting my mom and our friends. Carter had fun checking out the animals at the zoo and running around on the beach in Newport. The weather was super nice (big surprise) so it made me a little sad to come back to temperatures in the 30s and 40s. Now that Thanksgiving is over it's full speed ahead to Christmas. I can't believe the year is almost over!

Two Pink Lines... Take 2!

2007-11-05T20:15:00.000-05:00

Remember this?

For those of you who are not a relative or close friend and may not know yet... this is our official announcement that we are expecting our second Baby Peterson! I planted a "hint" earlier in our photo gallery to see if anyone would come across it and say anything. It's been looked at quite a bit, but only one person actually said anything!

Little one is due is May 16, 2008. We went in this morning for a nuchal translucency test. The ultrasound tech was checking a couple things so I asked, "could you tell if it's a boy or girl?". She didn't want to confirm or say it was 100%... but she said it looked like it might be a girl. We officially find out on December 17th (if baby cooperates). As far as a name goes, we have a couple picked out, but haven't made final decision yet.

This pregnancy so far is SO different from my first. I've been feeling sick pretty much every single day, all day and night. With Carter I didn't really start showing until I was about 4.5 - 5 months along. This time I'm already wearing maternity pants and I'm just barely 3 months in. I guess it's some sort of cruel "muscle memory" thing! The first time around there wasn't too much I couldn't eat or didn't like... so far I'm repulsed by almost everything. The only things lately I can count on not making me dry heave is yogurt and Coke or Pepsi (caffeine free of course)! And finally, I can't wear my contact lenses for more than a few hours or my eyeballs get so dry I feel like scratching them out of my head!

I'm really looking forward to adding to our family, and at the same time I'm a little freaked out that I'll have a newborn and a 2.5 year old! We're definitely in for a ride... wish us luck!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T17:50:00.000-04:00

Look at pictures here.

He's..... SAFE!

2007-10-26T20:27:00.001-04:00

Carter's new thing is running and "sliding" (falling). Luckily he likes to put a helmet on too. And why not wear a plastic milk carton on his foot for good measure?

Part I:

Part II:

Fall is officially here...

2007-10-14T14:17:00.000-04:00

... and I'm not saying that because the calendar says so. The weather has cooled down considerably, the leaves are changing and it's almost Halloween! So of course that makes it pumpkin time!

We went this morning to Sun High Orchards in Randolph. Carter enjoyed riding in a red wagon and checking out the llama, donkeys, sheep, goats and ducks. We even went on a little hay ride. Check out pictures here.

Long time no blog.

2007-09-01T19:52:00.000-04:00

For once I can say that this summer did NOT fly by like the past years. I feel like it actually dragged a bit. First I got the offer from my new job in May, but couldn't start until mid July. Those 2.5 months took forever! Then a lot seemed to happen at once - we did Fourth of July festivities in Verona, then Brian took me out for a low key birthday dinner. The weekend after we had everyone over for the Peterson Family Luau. Then I started work and Carter started at his new daycare. We spent a couple weekends down the shore, celebrated a few family members' birthdays (Brian's nieces Carly and Nikki, his brother Danny, my sister-in-law Stephanie, my Dad and Brian's Mom), then went to Brian's cousin's wedding in Massachusetts. Brian had arthroscopic surgery on his knee which brings us to the end of August and the "end of summer" weekend - Labor Day... and another birthday, my niece Alexa. Woo!

Meanwhile, Carter went and got tall and learned a bunch of new words that he's decided to actually blurt out instead of just grunting and pointing when you ask what something is. Today we were at the park and he was throwing a whiffle ball with Brian. Out of nowhere he looks up, points and says "bus", clear as day. We look up to see one going by, and you'd think he'd just done something wildly amazing because Brian and I looked at each other with our eyes wide and our mouths open, then looked at Carter and said "YES, BUS! GOOD JOB CARTER"!! We are ridiculously proud.

In other news, I lost all the info on my computer due to a bad software upgrade. Luckily I backed up all my photos, but to work on a blank canvas after you've gotten used to things a certain way is a royal pain in the arse. So forgive me if I haven't updated the photo portion of our site or blogged much. As you can see I've been just a tad busy with Life and technological issues. But now that things seem to be settling down a little I'll make more time to keep you all up to e-speed.

Hope everyone had a great summer. Here's looking forward to fall!

Love and stuff,
Erica