The Peters: August 2010

Monday, August 30, 2010

My Husband, the Sailor! :)

After being away from Mike for 9 1/2 weeks, Nixon and I were finally reunited with him this last weekend!

Mike graduated boot camp for the United States Navy on August 27th, 2010. He is officially a sailor! I have been looking forward to this day for the last year and a half! (Knowing that we would be separated for that long without any contact except for paper letters, was weighing on my mind since July 2009!) So needless to say, I was ECSTATIC when it finally came!

It was amazing to have our little family together for the weekend! It was even better when I had one of the proudest moments of my married life, watching my husband receive The Navy Club of the United States Military Excellence Award! And just so everyone can understand how important this award is....Mike was #1 out of 425in the entire boot camp, not to mention that he is in the top 50 out of 50,000 for the year!!!!! It brought tears to my eyes to see my husband standing there and being recognized. He is truly amazing and I am SO proud to be his wife!!!!!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

My summer without my Hubs.....

As many of you know, Mike joined the Navy last year. He is wanting to pursue a career as a doctor, and Med school is out of our price range at this time. Once we started looking at all of our options, joining the military was the best option. Not to mention the fact that Mike is extremely outgoing and the military is right up his ally!

Since he chose a career in the Navy as a Hospital Core man, he was unable to ship out til this summer. (I believe it all worked out for the best since he was around to see our daughter born and watch her grow up for the first four months.) It had been hanging over us for an entire year, and I was dreading the actual day when he had to ship out.

Once he shipped out, they told us that there would be no emailing, no web cams, very few phone calls and only paper letters. All in all it would be an 8 week process and I was praying that the time would go by fast. So far we are on week 6 of 8! Mike graduates on August 27th, and I could be more excited that the time is finally approaching!!!!

Since Mike shipped off on July 1st, life has been filled with my baby girl. I try to capture every moment with her so that I can write Mike every night and give him little updates on her. It has definitely been hard having him away, but I think that it has been harder for him since he has to be away from both of us. So I make sure that I write him every night to try and make it a little easier on him.

I have had many people ask how things are with him and with Nixon and I. Nixon and I are doing really well. It was extremely hard the first couple of weeks without Mike. There was a couple of nights that I would wake up in the middle of the night reaching out for him. I missed talking to him everyday and having my best friend around. So I tried to stay busy and concentrate on our daughter.

As for Nixon, she has just been growing away and posing for the camera every time I take a picture to send to her daddy. One of our biggest fears was that she would forget Mike while he was gone since she is so young. So to try and make that NOT happen, Mike tape recorded his voice reading her books to her. We listen to about 2 books every day. I also try and show her pictures of Mike on a daily basis and tell her that "daddy loves her and misses her". I think that it is somewhat working because the little phone calls that we have received, I have put Mike on speaker phone and Nixon looks around the room.

As for Mike, he is doing AMAZING!!!! Anyone that knows Mike, knows that he is very outgoing and determined to do a great job at anything he puts his mind to. Shortly after he got there, I was informed that he was put in charge of 78 recruits. And just this last week, I received a letter from the Officer/Director stating that Mike would be receiving an award at his graduation for outstanding performance. I have never been so proud of my husband. It is truly and honor to be married to a man who is willing to sacrifice so much for his country and is doing an amazing job! He truly is an amazing man in my eyes and a hero to our family and country.

Spending Time with Family!!!!

Since I have been a "stay at home mommy" all summer long, Nixon and I have been able to attend the family reunions. It has been so much fun showing her off to everyone!

On July 7th, Nixon and I drove to the Mack Family Reunion with my mom and Steve. This year the Mack Reunion was located in New Mexico. I was a little weary taking Nixon on that long of a road trip, but she pleasantly surprised me and everyone else! She was a complete angel! She did not make a peep. She slept most of the drive and when she wasn't sleeping she was just looking around and happy to be with everyone in the car.

While we were at the Mack reunion, Nixon experienced her first zoo. :) I carried her around in her Baby Bjorn and she was able to watch all the animals. It was fun watching her face every time she saw them. It is a look of complete interest and intense thinking, as she watches the way they move. She is very observant, and I can't wait for the day that she will actually be able to make the noises that the animals make and be able to distinguish between them! :)

Nixon also experienced her first hike with the entire family. The Friday of the Reunion, we all got together and took the tram up Sandia Mountain. (I'm assuming that was the name since our tram conductor said that!) We spent the entire day up on the top of the mountain, and after lunch we hiked across the mountain to a little peak for about a mile and a half. Again, Nixon didn't make a peep, she just sat back in her little pack and enjoyed the ride! :)

That Saturday was the day that everyone left to go home. We had a really good time, and it was nice to be able to meet and catch up with that side of the family. :)

Then July 28th, Nixon and I ventured up to Idaho so that we could spend a few days with my dad and Carolyn before we had the Gutierrez Family Reunion. It was nice to spend time my parents and have Nixon spend time with her Grandparents. Her Grandpa and Grandma Sommer love her to pieces and couldn't put her down! They were constantly showering her with kisses and love!

After spending a week with my parents, we joined my mom's side of the family for the Gutierrez Reunion. We had a blast, and it was SO nice to get to see all of my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that I haven't seen in a LONG time. It was also fun to show off Nixon to everyone. My Grandparents, Nixon's Great Grandparents haven't been able to come out and meet her, so it was the first time they got to see her. They fell in love instantly, and again, Nixon was loved by everyone.

Nixon is also the first great granddaughter of a granddaughter of a daughter to my grandmother....HAHAH... did that make sense?!? So it was the first four generation picture that my grandma has been able to take. :) We weren't able to get it professionally done, but it was fun none the less. Next time we will schedule an appointment and get a professional one taken so that we can have it framed.

All in all it was a great time spending the 2 weeks with family! Nixon fell in love with everyone and it was hard to say our good-byes. Hopefully it won't be long until we see everyone again!

Nixon Growing Up!

Ok....So I am officially the WORST blogger!!!! The other day I was cleaning and realized that I haven't updated our blog since Nixon was 2 months old (She is now 6 months old)!!!! I really thought that once Nixon came I would be updating this every night with all the little things that she does. But come to find out, I don't update it, I just play with her and watch her while she sleeps! LOL! I am completely in love with her and cherish everyday that passes. She is my little angel and I can't believe how fast she is growing already.

Nixon is currently 6 months old and on the verge of crawling. She mastered sitting up by herself the middle of July and has been sitting up and rolling over all over the place. Over the last couple of days she starts with sitting up and then slowly moves down to her stomach. Once she is fully laying down on her stomach, she props her little bottom in the air and tries to push herself up in a crawling stance. She's not quite strong enough to keep it there, so she gets really frustrated and starts wiggling around. However, she is getting where she wants to go....I call it her little slither. She tries hard to crawl, but once that doesn't work, she slithers her way (pushes herself across the floor with her feet) to where she wants to be. I think that it will be any day now that she will actually surprise me and start actually crawling!

Nixon is a fabulous little baby. She is ALWAYS happy and laughing. She LOVES to chatter at everyone and she laughs at her own little "jokes" all the time. She absolutely LOVES her exersaucer! She could play in that thing for hours at a time and she loves to chat with all the little toys that are on there. Mike and I have been truly blessed with her and couldn't ask for anything more....Well maybe 2 or 3 more just like her! :)

Here are pictures throughout Nixon's 6 months....I thought everyone would enjoy seeing her changes throughout the last 6 months.