Peter is getting fat, I’m getting used to disjointed sleep, and the warm November is absolutely amazing. Here’s the pictures my sister took for me:

A lovely baby who had his first bath today. He liked it better than a sponge bath.

A baby who is growing. He was 9 lbs 1 oz and 22.5 inches at the doctors office yesterday.

Fitting into my pre-pregnancy pants and losing my stomach two weeks after giving birth.

No longer being pregnant and being tired no longer how long I slept, itching and being unable to tie my shoes.

Not having to go to work.

Afternoon naps, and walks in the beautiful fall weather. Except it snowed today, so the walks might end.

Visits from Grandma–who absolutely loves Peter and provides dinner.

Space heaters for the drafty apartment.

A husband who works long hours, goes to school, all with no complaining and a kiss for his wife and son. I’m lucky to have him so I can be home. He’s amazing.

I’m having a great time learning how to be a mom to my very helpless little boy. Sometimes its a little frustrating, usually unpredictable, but also full of good moments. Some things that I wish didn’t happen:

• He apparently decides he’s done eating, but as soon as I put him down and climb back into bed, he starts crying again
• I change his diaper, only to hear a wonderful juicy fart minutes later
• Crying with apparently no reason–luckily he doesn’t do this too often.
• He hates diaper changes and baths

The best moments have been when he slept a four hour stretch at night (it’s only happened once), taking walks with him, and him looking at me.

So on Monday I went in for my prenatal appointment, and mentioned I had been itchy. My doctor sent me up to labor and delivery. Apparently I had intrahepatic chloestasis of pregnancy, which has something to do with my liver and bile acids, and can cause potential problems including stillbirths. I called Joe, and they induced me. Labor went pretty well, and I didn’t get an epidural. The worst part was pushing for a very long time when I was very tired. Six hours later at 7:15, I had a healthy baby boy. He was 8 lbs 2 ounces, and 21.5 inches long and we named him Peter Eric.  He’s long and pretty skinny like his parents. We are doing great at home now. Grandma (my mom) is helping out, and I am loving being a mom. Joe will just look at Peter and cuddle with him when he gets home.

So my family made predictions on how big the baby would be. You are free to as well. Here they are:

Heather: 6 lbs 11 oz. 19″

Joe: 7.8, 21

Dillon: 8.2, 21

Mom: 8.3 20

Dan: 8.1, 20

Ben: 9.0, 21

Clarissa: 8.6, 20

Will: 8.0, 22

Dad: 8.14, 19.5

The average for all of those is 8 lbs 1 oz, and 20 inches. The winner gets an unknown prize.

He should be here sometime in the next four weeks. Kinda strange just not having any idea when he will be here. In the meantime, I’m staying busy. Still working a tiny bit, and reading, cooking, cleaning. I had great fun last week going to my Mom’s and making applesauce. (My mom is amazing. I have a years supply of applesauce to prove it). Joe would love it if he came Friday–that is when Fall break is. But I doubt he’ll come on the date we want him to.

Between sessions of Genereral Conference, Joe and I took a drive and picnic up Logan canyon. I think everyone should visit Logan right around conference time–the leaves are absolutely beautiful.

It seems fall is always easy to miss. One week, I am hating the heat, I’m really busy the next, and by then I’ve missed the peak of fall colors and its about to snow. This year I don’t want to miss it. We went up Providence canyon last Sunday and this Saturday. It’s amazing to see how quickly the leaves turn red. I’m not up for much hiking, but we did get the hammocks out and relaxed in the nice weather.

Fall also means freezing temperatures. My garden has already been nipped by frost–I don’t expect it to last after this week. But much to my pleasure, I picked a watermelon, cantaloupe, and winter squash this week. I will be grateful to stop trying to stuff even more zucchini in my fridge. The constant flow of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and lettuce will be missed. I’ve also grow quite fond of ratatouille, and that will probably stop with the garden.

So, upon seeing a cute picture of my sister-in-law’s little girl in her cute nursery, I decided that the storage room that is turning into the nursery must be transformed into something a little cuter and not so full of storage. I rearranged it one night, and today I decided to put decorations on the wall.

After visiting two craft stores, I finally decided what I was going to do. And it didn’t quite work out like I had imagined, but I’m pleased with the results. I realized while doing this that I am not a crafty person. I’d much rather being in a garden, or writing, reading, etc. But I still take on the occasional craft and end up with something way less wonderful than my original vision or what someone else can do. Oh well.

Here’s a picture of my project today:

Today I found myself once again doing what might be the worst job I have ever had. For one of my jobs, I am a lab assistant for a proffesor who studies organic agriculture. One of the crops she is studying is, of all the wonderful things to be working with, onions. Usually I am really lucky and get stuck with the strawberries.  But not this week. This week I have the lovely task of processing onion sample. This means that I sort through very large onions, get the leaf count, leaf area, and then cut them all up and put them in the drying oven. In a few more weeks I put them through a grinder.

So–what makes this so bad. First, it takes a long time. Second, the onions are very large. They do not sell them this big in the grocery store. And of course, the very worst thing is the lovely smell. Here’s a little botany–onions have a lot of sulfur compounds, and when they are cut up, they release sulfuric acid that irritates eyes. Not a lot I can do about it. Luckily, there are good old latex gloves that prevent my hands from smelling like onions for weeks.

I was sitting working on my onions and thinking about how awful it was, but realized I didn’t mind it. It felt a little strange. Lately I’ve actually had a hard time enjoying myself, but found myself in the best of moods when I was done. Partly I think it was because it went quickly.  I’m one quarter of the way done so far. It’s going a little faster than I anticipated.  I was also listening to good music, and no one was around so I could occasionally sing and dance to it. Very fun. I also like not being supervised and working by myself. It allows me to do tasks my way, and not worry about details too much. One last thing, its nice to stay busy and get done what needs to be done. Being lazy never brings that satisfied happiness, although it feels good at the time. Even staying busy with not so fun tasks is better than doing nothing.