a beach world of wonders

Cast this picture into the future, and I see a bathing beauty BORN for the beach! And she was! Our family vacaction to my parents beach house in Nags Head, was more than I could have ever expected for Lily. She was a natural! No fear! The ocean welcomed her as she stepped forward into the water. The sand fit perfectly between her toes, and the sun shined perfectly onto her olive skin. My love for the water, the beach, the ocean has been genetically passed onto my darling daughter and it was a joy to see her there!

We were blessed with amazing weather, amazing food, amazing family and friends, and amazing pictures to prove it. I was so happy to be there with my parents! Not only was it great to share the beach experience with them, but it was also nice to be able to lay out, read my book, and relax a bit. They were quick to take Lily on a walk along the water, build a sand castle or even bring her back in for me. Mike and I took full advantage of the time alone, although I wish it was spent more together.

When we go to the beach I enjoy sweating until I MUST jump in the water. A book on the beach calms me, and just sitting in my chair is what I want to do alllll. day. long. Mike on the other hand is a typical boy/man (i guess hehe) and would rather be jumping around, playing raquet ball, boccee ball, playing in the water, or basically anything BUT sitting down for 30 min. So most of our time was spend apart :( We still managed to get away for a nice dinner with our friends. We have ONE pic to prove it :)

Oh to be back at that place! I did spend most of the week convincing Mike how amazing it would be to live by the water. It is something I have wanted for a while now, but moving doesn't really seem smart right now. I hope in our near future, a more simple life, beach life will be ours :)

Pediatric Update

Quick update! For as life seems to be passing before me way to quick!! Is this how it is? Parenthood? A blink of an eye??

Well that is how I feel, I am actually beginning to cry..stop Lauren.

Today Lily had her 18 month check up! Holy heck, where has the time gone? My little infant baby, is a toddler, a constant learner, listener, speaker, etc. I believe they use the word 'sponge' to describe the developing brain of a baby/child. She is forever learning something new. She is fascinating to watch, and I can instantly smile as I gaze over her shoulder while she plays on her own now. It's a true miracle!

My mom took her to her appointment today. I worked last night and knowing Lily was in the hands of my Mom made it easier to come to terms with the fact I was missing a tiny milestone. Well not really a milestone, but I felt guilty. None the less, Lily didn't care! She lovesssssss Mo Mo! Plus, she didn't have to get shots so it was an easy peasy morning.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 24lbs 14oz (50-75%)

Height: 32 in (75%)

Head Circumference...always a doosey: 19 in (90-95%)

The word's of Dr. Reilly (my Mom wrote them down so I could know what she said exactly)

"Lily has a perfect disposition. What she is now, is who she will be."

It makes me feel proud!

As always, the classic scale pic....

i'll make it quick

Ok, so before the summer actually begins with the kick off of Memorial Day Weekend, I have been wanting to write a post. Lately, my life has been hectic with a toddler, and I just haven't felt like what is going on is worth posting. It is just the Peterson's doing a little bit of this here and there and a little of that....

Quite frankly a little boring, a maybe something that my AVID blog followers would be too interested in ;)

Seriously do I have avid followers? Who am I kidding, I do want to be like Ree Drummond! A small dream of mine. I think I need to establish many more hobbies, be a better cook (still striving), take better pictures, have more kids and live in the country....

Anywhooooo, I will recap, to the best of my ability, my life as a mom and wife until today...BECAUSE, we leave for the beach tomorrow night and I will have a TON to post about once we get home.

The last I can remember...

Mother's Day...I did a 5k. Lily and Mike watched on the sidelines. The weather was much colder than expected but a great morning to run. The course was also quite difficult for a 5k with nice hills. PLUS, it was a loop, so after the first great hill, I had something to look forward to the next go round...that sucked.

My Mom and Aunt Debbie also joined me. The ran/walked it. I was so proud of them! It was a great start to our Mother's Day!Also for Mother's Day AND my Birthday, Mike has tackled a home project. Our back patio! Here is starting it for me.....he has made much more progress than the pictures shown, although it is not yet complete. The pavers have been laid, but the plan is to have two raised gardens on each side, plus a rock garden in the way back left for us to keep our trash cans, toys, etc...It looks great, Mike! Thank you!

The next weekend, I guess we laid low...Mike's brother and sister-in-law were in town and we all had a nice bbq at his brother's house. The whole family was together, and Alicia (my sister-in-law) announced she is expecting a third baby in the beginning of Dec :) I guess I won't be the one to have the fourth grandchild after all.... The bbq was great fun and it is always nice to see the cousins interact. I attempted a picture of the grandparents with their babies, although they never seem to want to look at me while I snap away. This is the best I could do....Despite their unenthusiasm (not a word I know) they love them dearly!Anyways, Sunday we went to the Ashburn Fire House open house. It wasn't geared very much to the younger ones, but we will happened to ride a fire truck :) It was super cool and Lily really enjoyed herself!


This past weekend was also eventful. After a very busy night of work on Friday, I came home Saturday morning, and my Mom and I left for Virginia Beach. My Aunts, Grandma, and cousins planned a night away while the men partook in a weekend of golf. It was Lily's first time this season at the beach and I treated it like a trial for this upcoming week at the beach.

SUCCESS!!!!

She loved it. She is a regular beach babe. All the more reason I keep telling Mike we need to move close to the water! She loves her sunglasses, and I had nothing but smiles. The weather was great, and the ocean was surprisingly warm for this time of year.

Sunday we came home and Craig was there from taking a weekend off from the trail. He ended on Saturday at route 7 near Leesburg and thought he should come home for the night. Well one night turned into two, and Monday morning Lily and I took him back to the trail. The plan was for Craig to take his dog, Porter, but my Mom called me last night as she was on her way to Harper's Ferry to pick him up from Craig. I think he realized having a dog on the trail is a bit much. Craig was happy to have the time with him, but he prefers to be alone on the trail. He continues to enjoy himself. I have noticed such a wonderful change in him. His attitude, his maturity, his appearance....He just seems so happy, and it is such a joy to be around him now!

Weekend Update

This past weekend we travelled to Lynchburg to spend some more time with the Reel's. Some of our closest friends, Andy and Liz, had invited us, actually forced us, to attend a Kentucky Derby party which Liz and the Junior League were hosting. Because Liz was the party chair, she wanted to make sure of a good attendance, and I am guessing she wanted us there to support her. It turned out to be a great party! The weather was awesome! The scenery was awesome! The food was awesome! The drinks, awesome, etc!

The party was held at this farm...this farm happened to be owned by the inventor of the workout machine Gazelle...ever heard of it? Well you should know what I am talking about, and needless to

say it was pretty damn puuurdy!You will most likely NEVER see Mike in a bow tie again, but he looked quite cute and it was mandatory for the Derby attire:) Atleast that is what I told him....

All the girls were sporting their Derby hats. Liz here is actually wearing a REAL Derby hat (whatever that means) for me, just a simple sun hat will do :)

Last week was also Walker's 2nd birthday and one of our gifts to him was a blow up pool. (Liz and Andy have a great front yard for one) Lily and Walker enjoyed the new pool over this HOT weekend!

Lily also enjoyed baby Carter! She LOVES these little ones.....he is getting so big!

Earth Day Loudoun

Sunday turned out to be a wonderful family day! It was suppose to start with me running the GW Parkway 10 miler, and with much regret I didn't follow through with it. I do have one Lauren Bevington to blame for this :) -I still have much love for her though!

I will own up to my incompletion though, I totally could have gone by myself! In all honesty, I was really pumped for it, then with the projected forecast, and the prospects of me running another race on my own without fans (b/c I wouldn't make Mike and the babe drive into the city in the rain) I did have some doubts about it and just decided to stay home.

After my nights sleep, I was REALLY hoping to wake up and see it pouring rain. This way my decision of sleeping in would be justified. NOPE, actually it was perfect running weather, you see....and I had a loom of disappointment hanging over me! Instead, we headed to church, and we were determined to make right with the day!!!

Mike got a haircut, we treated ourselves to some brunch at Blue Ridge Grill, Lily napped and then we were off to Earth Day Loudoun which was taking place at Clydes. The rain pretty much held off alllllll day, and we even saw sun....and the sun was even a little hot....and that horrible feeling that most northern Virginians never forget even in the dead of winter, humidity decided to grace us with it's presence. Stefani, Josh and Ethan joined us for the family fun! Unfortunately because we got there a little later in the day it seemed as though people were closing up shop when we got there. Also, the beer and wine garden distracted us for a good hour before we actually decided to venture around the Nature Conservatory that the property sits on. We all immediately felt bad that we were selfish enough to take the kids away from some kid friendly fun, because we stumbled upon a petting zoo, among many other kid activities. But they too were on their way out, so for a short while we were able to spend some time with the animals.

Lily was ecstatic! She yelled with pure joy over seeing ducklings. In fact, she was the loudest kid of them all. All the other children were gazing over the cage of ducks and chicks ever so quietly, then Lily came along. I can't say I am complaining. I will not take away her excitement or the way she expresses it, although I am going to work on her volume control

Pictures to share.....After the piggies come out.....

Cat scratch

Ok, one might judge the look of these pics and videos...a baby on a cat scratcher, climbing, hanging and no stopping her! Well actually, no part of me likes the idea of her on this contraption but I am finding it very hard to stop her.

Now, most of today I spent my air voicing to her "NO, Lily, no climbing, Mommy is not going to help you!"

She in response would cry, get mad, but would eventually move onto the next thing, or I would distract her, we would read, eat lunch, etc....

This time, I just had to sit back and watch! I am so curious how long it will take her to get to the top! AGAIN, I DO NOT WANT THIS TO HAPPEN, but I am fearful it's the inevitable. You have seen the proof of her on top of my dining room table, and, just today I found her on the kitchen table pouring out the entire salt shaker. Maybe she was looking for better luck on the cat scratcher....bah dum ching!

busy spring..video/picture update

I wanted to share a few videos of Lil! Any bloggers have suggestions on how to properly upload videos? It seems to take FOREVER for me. AND I can't upload anything that is over a minute...oh well.

Lily is really loving the idea of babies! She is constantly pointing them out to me in stores, on our walks, etc. Honestly I have done nothing to spark this interest in her. It is just her true MOmmy instinct that I think is amazing little girls get at such a young age!

Lily is on the go having fun in the warm weather. It is hard to get her back inside most days. Sometimes I wish we had more of a yard so she could roam, but on the flipside, we would have more yard work, and lets be honest, we already have a hard time with what we have - or maybe Mike just does ;)

Our Visit to Lynchburg 2 weeks ago was GREAT! Lily and Walker had a great time playing in the pool and going to the park for lunch. It was here that Lily's Mommyhood really shined through. My friend Liz just had her second baby boy, and she was all over him, trying to give his paci, putting the blanket on, then off, then on, off, etc.

She's my climber for sure......Slides make her happy...


Lily is a true girl when it comes to jewelry. She loves finding my necklaces and putting them on. I have resorted to some plastic jewelry so she doesn't break anything else. Yes, thats right, she has already broken two necklaces of mine...