Posts

Selective Mutism and Trichotillomania

 Selective Mutism and Trichotillomania....two words I had never heard of but man, have they rocked our world. Selective Mutism should really be called Situational Mutism, as selective makes it seem like a child is being selective and choosing when and when not to talk. Situational means it really depends on the people, place and surroundings. S.M (Selective Mutism) is an anxiety disorder that renders a person unable to speak. For Elliana, the signs were always there. She'd talk freely to mom, dad, siblings and grandma. Everybody and every where else, she would not speak. We always thought she was just shy. In 4k, same thing. Hardly said a word to a soul, even children. Picture days were hell in a handbasket for her. Again, just thought she was shy and she'd come out of it. Kindergarten...that was difficult. She wouldn't speak at all but would communicate with head nods and point to pictures. Thought the changes with covid and having to wear a mask were part of it. Half way

Time moves too fast

 This post has been floating around in my head for a few days but I can never find the time to sit and write. Here we are. Jeremiah It feels just like yesterday that I was a nervous wreck sending Jeremiah off to 4k for a couple hours each day. How vividly all my thoughts and fears are when he started 4k and into kindergarten. Wondering if he'd make friends, how he'd be treated by teachers and other students. If he'd eat school lunch. 4k went in a flash...man did he test his teachers. Ms.Renae looked at Matt and I at one conference and said "I've had a lot of children through these doors over the years and there's only been one children more stubborn than him." We kind of all chuckled but I had a lump in my throat. He tested them greatly, but he made it through. Kindergarten also brought new challenges. Little Jeremiah was afraid of the bathroom in Mr.Kok's room and was afraid of the big kid bathrooms so he had quite a few potty accidents. Mr.Kok was so

2022 At A Glance

 January Haley and I enjoyed several free open gym times at the Y. She mastered a swivel bike and loved jumping in the bounce houses! Haley turned 3! We swam at the Y, and had a Peppa Pig cake. The cake was decorated beautifully but the cake itself wasn't very tasty. We ordered it from a home baker,...won't order from her again! Elliana keeps us laughing with her silly questions and sayings! Jeremiah is silly as usual! Still loves to play with toy cars.  Haley started speech at the kids' school once a week for a half hour. I got to volunteer in the kids' classrooms during that time! February Dealt with some sickness in the house that weren't fun. Jeremiah learned that if you stick a straw between your arm and side and blow it makes a loud fart noise...thanks YouTube! Haley learned to zip up her own sweatshirts and coat! We went to visit Great Grandma and Uncle Gary...always a loud, fun time! Elliana was diagnosed with Selective Mutism which explained so much!  Churc

Pictures!

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The kids got to camp in the living room after their first homeschool week! Haley relaxing outside Playing in the pool with grandma Story time with dadda First day of school at home due to covid One of our family pictures we had done October 2019 Driving Haley Ellie and her birthday donut   First camp fire of the season along with Jeremiah’s best friend Liam Jeremiah and Zeek My three babies Mat and Bella  My loves! That was one hell of a frustrating photo shoot. Luckily our photographer was amazing at photoshop! The little artist Jeremiah and s as LEGO creation Feeding sister ice cream Dads snuggles Ellie on the left, Haley on the right Ellie and her 4k teacher Ms.Liz Jeremiah and sassy  Our 4k graduate!

Catching up on...Haley's pregnancy and birth

Little Miss Haley joined our family on January 23rd,2019. She was 8 pounds 4 oz (our smallest baby by an ounce) and nobody really knows how long she was. Her birth certificate says 22 inches but I'm not sure. Several different people measured her with several different lengths ha!  She was born via c-section. I went into it totally kosher, thinking that all would be fine, I've done this twice before, no big deal. Boy was I wrong!  My pregnancy with her was pretty uneventful. I had some morning sickness in the beginning and lost a few meals down the toilet. We also traveled to Florida when I was 5-6 weeks pregnant and then to Nebraska when I was 14 weeks pregnant. Those made for some long road trips because we had to stop every 2.5-3 hours so I could get out and walk. It sucked! I like to just get in the car and go and only stop for meals and potty breaks. Anyway, My heart did some funky things so I was put on a heart mediciation and even had to wear a heart monitor for a couple

Catching Up on...Elliana

Elliana is now 5 years old! This past school year she attended 4k at Community Care! Her teachers were Ms.Liz, Ms.Jeannine and Ms.Renae. Ellie did well in school but she was so very shy. It took her a good 4 months or so before she'd even talk to Ms.Liz. She had a few moments in class where she got emotional but they worked through them. The hardest part for her was going back to school after christmas break. She cried every day at drop off or during the school day for close to two weeks. It broke my heart leaving her when she was crying, and I would walk away while crying too. We all worked through it though and got back to normal drop offs where she'd give me a hug and go do her thing!  We got to go on her first field trip together, to The Little Farmer. She was nervous on the bus and clung to my arm most of the ride. She had fun during the field trip and it was good to see her play with a couple new friends. We did this field trip right in October. It was the same thing as w

Catching up on...Jeremiah

So I realize I've totally neglected this blog! It's crazy! Jeremiah is now 7.5, Elliana turned 5 in April and the biggest news was that we added to our family! Haley is almost 1.5 already!! So I will do a blog entry on each of the kids and catching up on Matt and I! Mr.Jeremiah! Last time I wrote, he was just getting ready to start 4k at Community Care! That school year was something else! He had three wonderful teachers, Ms.Amber, Ms.Jeannine and Ms.Renae. And boy, did he give them all a run for their money! We had a parent teacher conference in October, where Ms.Renae joined Ms.Amber. She told us that she has only had one other student more stubborn than Jeremiah, and Jeremiah was close to trumping that student! So if that doesn't tell you about Jeremiah, I don't know what does. However, we all worked as a team, we gave them permission to show him some tough love and using time at Grandma's house as a reward, we got him on the straight path! It was in 4k that Je

All about Elliana

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So looking down the blog, it would seem as if we only have one child lol! We do have two and this post will be all about our 2nd born, little Miss Elliana! Elliana is almost 2.5 years old. She has the most amazing smile, giggle, and bright blue eyes! Her infancy was a complete breeze! I was able to pump for her for 9.5 months, and then we had to make the switch to formula. Keeping up with an energetic toddler and a baby on the move, just was not working while connected to a pump for 20 minutes every 3 hours and only getting a few ounces each time. I was pretty damn proud of myself for being able to feed her for so long! She loved to be swaddled...so much so she was about 7 months before she was finally able to sleep without being swaddled! Unlike her brother, she didn't need to be sleep trained either! Right off the bat she was sleeping 4-6 hours at night. Then she would also put herself to sleep. We'd lay her in her crib, turn music on and she'd be out in a few minutes

Our son in heaven, Noah Nicholas

As the title states, we once again lost another sweet baby. December of 2016 we decided to start trying for our third and last baby. On March 26th, I decided to test and it came out positive. We were shocked that once again, it happened so quickly for us. If you've followed our journey, it took us 4.5 years to get pregnant with Jeremiah. We quickly became excited, dreaming of what this little baby would be. Once again, my gut told me this baby was a boy. We spent days spewing off different names, wondering how Elliana would take to becoming a big sister, how Jeremiah would do with another baby in the house, etc, etc. And then our world started to crumble. On April 6th, I started spotting. We spent the entire month of april holding our breaths. I would spot and then it would stop for a day or two, and then start back up again. I'd have my blood levels tests every other to every third day. At first they were rising normally and we thought we were in the clear. Then my progestero

To my baby boy on the night before his first day of 4k.

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My sweet boy, The time has come. The time has come for me to watch you spread your wings, and fly. It is time for you to start school away from home. My heart...oh my heart...it is so worried, so very excited, and so very anxious for this. I write this, and the tears start to flow. We met your teachers tonight, they both seem very sweet. You were scared. You wouldn't walk into the building. You had to be coaxed and carried in by grandma. You were nervous. You stood by me, half of your body behind me. We put your backpack in your cubby, school supplies in the bin, and we stood. Both of us nervous, but trying not to show it. After a couple minutes, I took you by the hand, and walked you around the classroom. We talked to Ms.Amber a few times. After a half hour, you started to warm up. You played with some blocks, and pretended to blow over a tower. By the end, you didn't want to leave. And so tonight, I listen to you make cookies with Ellie and Dadda. I listen to your sweet v

Jeremiah turned 3!

October 29th 2015 and my first baby turned three years old!! Every day I look at him and wonder where the time is going!! For his birthday, we took him to lunch at The Jet Room in Madison. The boy loves anything automotive, so we knew this would be right up his alley! We got seated at a table right by the window, which was perfect for watching the planes come and go! He got mickey mouse pancakes and actually ate them LOL!! After eating, Elliana was getting tired and needing a bottle so we went to my mom's house for a bit. We knew Matt's dad and Chris would be arriving soon. I wanted to take Jeremiah to the children's museum. My mom and I took Jeremiah, while Matt and Elliana stayed behind. Literally right as we left, grandpa and grandma peterson arrived. We let them rest and spend time with Matt while we played at the children's museum. Jeremiah had fun playing with the train table, painting and driving a big car. We didn't stay too long, especially since we wante

April 8th, 2015

This is taken from how I wrote it to a group of women I'm a part of online. We all met on a forum, and all had babies in April! So the morning of April 8th, we arrived at the hospital at 5am. We were shown to our room and I was hooked up to the heartbeat and contraction monitors. It was nice to sit and listen to our baby's heartbeat for the last 3 hours of her being in me, I was also enjoying feeling her kick and move about. Nurses were in and out throughout the morning. Around 7am, we met with the anesthesiologist. I was hoping to has the same one that I had with Jeremiah but it was a different one. She had her list of questions to ask me. One of them was along the lines of do you get out of breath with minimal physical activity. When I told her no, she just stared at me. This was the first time I have ever run into a doctor from our hospital that was judging me from my size. When I said no, she asked "you can climb 2 flights of stairs without being out of breath?"