Josie Bean Playing in her Toy Gym

I know the picture quality isn't the best as I didn't have a lot of lights on in the livingroom when I filmed this, but here is Josie playing before bedtime. It's my first blog video!

Go Pack Go!

Josie had a fun time celebrating her first Packer game with her friend Blake

Josie and her friends with their new shirts on!

Josie in her party dress!

Thanks for the t-shirt Auntie Molly! I can't wait to celebrate my First Canadian Thanksgiving!

Josie's Baptism

Josephine Melissa Peters was baptized on August 15, 2010. Her Godparents are Auntie Candace and Uncle Jeremy! What a day! (Her daddy spent part of the party in Urgent Care treating an infection in his arm....owie.)

This is Josie in her Baptism "party dress"

Josie wore the same baptismal gown that her mommy and aunties wore for their baptism

Josie getting baptized

Family Photo

Josephine Melissa Peters

It was 10:19pm on Friday, July 9th, one day past our due date. Luke and I were watching "The Untouchables" when I asked him the time. After three more time inquiries he finally asked why I wanted to know. I was having contractions 10 minutes apart! We continued watching TV as I wondered if they were real contractions. At around midnight, Luke suggested that if this was really happening he should pack a hospital bag and we should try to get some sleep. We went to bed around midnight. By this time, I knew my contractions were the real thing as they were getting more intense and happening more frequently. At 2:30am after trying unsuccessfully to sleep, we decided to get up and time them. We had some minor disagreements on how to time the contractions. I wanted to use my watch with a seconds hand. Luke wanted to use the stopwatch timer on his cell phone. He said my watch was too small for him to read. I said his stopwatch "lap" times didn't make any sense. Finally, he downloaded a clock app on his phone that worked great! Gotta love technology. As Luke made sandwiches for the hospital, I labored on the couch in our livingroom. I started really having to focus on my breathing. I still couldn't believe this was finally happening! (After all that time waiting...) I got in the shower a little after 4:00 am. "How far apart were those two?" I remember asking Luke. "Three minutes." At that time, I decided it was time to go! We called the hospital and Dr. Koss admitted me. Luke loaded the car and off we went. (Had to make U-turn to go back for Luke's sandwiches that he forgot. I wasn't about to have him tired AND hungry while I was going through this!) We checked in with our nurse, Deb at 4:45am. My water broke just as she was leading me in to the bathroom to go potty. We answered some health questions and turned down the epidural, explaining that we planned to do this naturally. I had Luke call my mom to let her know I was at the hospital. She passed the message on to my Dad, brother and sisters. Luke and I went for a walk around the maternity ward. I wanted to be moving as much as possible. From about 6am onward we were in the delivery room breathing through contractions together. Luke was an awesome labor coach. He breathed each one with me and encouraged me with head nods as we did so. After each contraction I was rewarded with an ice chip and a kiss! I tried a couple of labor positions but found that I was most comfortable on my left side...who knew? Dilating from 8-10cm was the hardest part. I do remember thinking at that time that I never wanted to do this again. But Luke helped me get through it as we did our "birthday candle" breathing. We also had a very supportive nurse at that time named Jenny. Finally at 8:30am, Jenny announced that Dr. Sabal was coming in to scrub up. "We are going to practice pushing," she said. I wanted to say, "Let's skip the practice and be on with it!" but really when she said that she meant it was go time. I remember the doctor coaching me between pushes, reminding me that women have been giving birth naturally since the beginning of time and that our bodies are designed to do this. He insisted that I was doing a great job. Lukas asked, "Is that the head?" Sure enough Baby Peters was crowning with a head full of dark hair. Unbelievable! Twenty-four minutes of pushing and out came our baby. "It's a girl!" Luke exclaimed. And as they placed our beautiful baby girl on my chest, we both cried tears of joy. "It's Josephine Melissa, " I said. "We have a daughter!" To this day, I still can't believe how perfectly wonderful she is. She is a healthy and happy baby girl. What did we ever do without her?

We proudly announce the arrival of our daughter,

Josephine Melissa Peters

Born on July 10, 2010 at 8:54am

Weighing 8 pounds 9 ounces and 20 inches long

You are our dream come true...

38 Weeks

It's hard for me to believe that our little one is going to be here in just two weeks time. Luke and I couldn't be more excited or ready for his/her arrival. We are so lucky to have such generous families and friends. Between the five baby showers I've had and that are coming up in August and September, we have received all of the baby essentials. We can't thank everyone enough for their generosity. A special thanks goes out to my sisters and cousins for hosting the Drangstveit Baby shower. I love you ladies! Dr. Kremer says I am 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was told that I have a "favorable" cervix for childbirth. Woohoo! (Let's hope that proves true.) Our Birth and Parenting Class went well. We learned about breathing and relaxation techniques and how to care for a newborn. Luke and I both found benefits to taking that class, but for different reasons. I've had dreams almost every night for the last week about our childbirth experience. None of them have been scary, but they do leave me disappointed when I wake up to discover that I haven't made as much progress as I have in my dreams! I certainly feel lucky that this pregnancy has gone so smoothly for us. It was a prayer answered in itself to get pregnant and I feel that God has blessed me with a healthy and mostly comfortable pregnancy. I do not take that for granted. Now we pray for the safe arrival of Baby Peters and hope that we are granted with the wisdom to be the best parents possible for our 'lil Spikey. Our love for him/her is sure to grow exponentially when we finally get to meet him/her. I so look forward to the day that our family becomes a three.

32 Weeks!

It's hard to believe how fast this pregnancy is going, but at the same time we are getting SO excited to meet our little one so the end can't come fast enough! At my 32 week appointment, Baby's heartbeat was back up to 157! (It had dropped from 150 to 130 at my last appt.) Regardless, either way is normal, but it makes it difficult to predict the sex of the baby based on that old wives tale! I guess we'll just have to wait and see! Earlier this week I was getting dizzy spells and feeling faint. The doctor says I need to eat more protein in my diet so Luke cooked up a bunch of hard-boiled eggs for me and went out and bought me pistachios and cashews to snack on. (What a good dad he is!) Apparently, with this pregnancy comes my first-ever encounter with seasonal allergies. I'm feeling miserable and can't take any medicine to ease the sniffles which is annoying. Luke spent my first mother's day in Las Vegas, but sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers to make up for it. Baby and I had a good time with my family that day. I start going to the doctor every two weeks now. We are signed up for our Childbirth and Parenting class in June. I can't wait to be a mom!

Easter and Babymoon!

What a perfect family photo!

My nephew Samuel after his Easter Egg hunt at Auntie Amy's!

Now, there's something you don't see every day!

Only in Fort Worth, Texas...

Luke and Amy on Easter Sunday!

Amy at 6 months pregnant!

We had a great time in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas for our "Babymoon." Here are some pictures of us....

Luke at the Stockyards in Fort Worth


Amy and Baby at the Dallas Zoo



Luke and Amy at the Dallas Zoo

The Peters after eating at "Hook, Line & Sinker."

Luke says the Po-boys were "okay."

My shrimp kabobs were delicious!

25 Weeks Pregnant

Hello Friends and Family!
A lot can change from 19 weeks pregnant to 25 weeks pregnant so I better get updating! We have 'lil Spikey's nursery all painted and ready to go! It is brown and blue and decorated with safari animals. We tried to go for a gender-neutral theme, but it looks a little more boyish than girlish, I think. We'll have to give it a splash of pink if Baby Peters is a girl. We bought a crib from one of my fellow teachers along with a bassinet and some other essentials. The baby is moving and kicking all the time now. I feel him/her multiple times a day, but mostly when I'm laying in bed and still. I always try to get Luke to feel, and most times he can't feel it. However, yesterday morning when I woke up Luke said, "Guess what, when you were sleeping I was cuddling you and I felt our baby kicking my hand. I think he/she just wanted to say hi to me on it's own terms." I was excited that he was able to share in that moment with the baby as I was sound asleep! Baby and I went to our 24 week appointment on Monday. I have gained 13 beautiful baby pounds so far and the doctor says I'm right on track. Spikey's heartbeat is at 150 bpm for the third checkup in a row! We are scheduled to do the glucose testing on April 14th. I am looking forward to our "BabyMoon" trip that is coming up. Luke and I are going to Dallas, TX from Tuesday-Saturday next week. It will be nice to get away, spend time with each other and soak up some sun. We are visiting the Dallas Zoo and rented a car to travel to Fort Worth to see the rodeo! My sister Candy helped me pick out a cute maternity swimsuit for the occasion. I will post some pictures so you can see what the baby room and what I look like! Stay tuned...

Pregnant Amy at 19 Weeks

Baby Peters Pictures

We are so excited to share the latest pictures of Baby Peters. We are 19 weeks pregnant today and went in for our ultrasound. We got to see a great view of our little one yawning with his/her hands right up by his/her face as if it wanted to rub its eyes! It was soooo precious! Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of that moment. Seeing our baby definitely made this pregnancy seem more real. I can't believe our little Spikey (as named by cousin Kohl) has arms, legs, fingers and toes!!! (But I sure am happy he/she does!) We were able to watch its heart beat, see its stomach, kidneys, brain and spinal cord. Everything looks healthy so far and Baby Peters is measuring 3 days larger than expected. See below for pictures of the youngest Peters!



Here you are looking at Baby Peters' face. You can see his/her eyes, nose and mouth and possibly a little hand waving at you!

This is a picture of his/her arm and leg. The top part is the back and the head is on the left side.

Here Baby is looking at you again with its two little arms on each side and hands together under the chin. The big round part is his/her chest/belly. My mom says Baby Peters must take after his father with the "beer belly." I tend to agree. :-)

This is the same pic as above. You get it twice because I couldn't tell which one looked better. You can decide.

Thanks for visiting!!!

18 Weeks

We are happy to say we are 18 weeks pregnant and counting! Baby Peters is the size of a small mango right now...weighing about 5 ounces. We are looking forward to our ultrasound appointment a week from today to make sure he/she is healthy as can be! I finally got the rest of the nursery cleaned out and now it's a matter of finding a paint color that works. Daddy Luke gets to be in charge of that task! We have a lot to do in preparation for Spikey's arrival....let the shopping begin! $$$

Announcing Our News!

My students had to solve a puzzle to discover I was having a baby!
We told my parents by giving them onesies that said
"Grandpa's My Hero" and "Who Needs Santa When I Have Grandma?"

Baby Charlie Joins the Family!

Samuel with his Baby Brother!
What a cute family!

Baby Charlie!

Welcome Baby Charlie!!!

Yippee! We are so proud and excited to announce that we are "Auntie" and "Uncle" again as my sister, Kristin had her baby boy last night at 10:10pm. Charles Kenneth Lindstam arrived weighing 7 lbs. and 7 oz. and is 19 inches long. We can't wait to go to the hospital tonight to meet him and get some pictures! Congratulations to Peter, Kristin and Samuel on this new addition to your family. We love you!!!