Our Journey towards Parenting!

I can't believe Matt and I have been married for 7 years! We sure have had our ups and downs but we have gotten through them together! Here is a little survey I found to help remember our wedding day! 1) When was your wedding day?  June 17th, 2006 2) What day of the week was it?  Saturday  3) Did you get married in a church?  Yes- we got married at the church I grew up in, Life Church in Mt.Horeb, Wi  4) How many in your wedding party?  2 bridesmaids- my cousin Brenda and friend Sarah 2 groomsmen- Matt's cousin Monte and brother in law Nick 1 flower girl- niece Shyanne 2 ring bearers- my 2nd cousin's Brett and Daniel 5) How many guests were invited to your wedding?  We invited 150-200 people but I never found out how many actually came 6) How long were you together before the engagment?  11 months  7) How long did you wait to Tie The Knot after your proposal?  13 months. We had one month to just enjoy being engage...

Last week we dealt with Jeremiah's first major illness, which had Matt and I worried out of our minds! It started at the beginning of the week when I noticed that Jeremiah had started to cough and sneeze most of the day. That wasn't normal and I told Matt that I think Jeremiah is getting a cold. Well Jeremiah woke up the next morning and it was full fledged. He had a runny nose, coughing, sneezing, the whole 9 yards. It didn't take long, and soon we were battling a baby who wouldn't eat, fevers, throwing up what little he would eat and couldn't sleep unless he was held upright. After about 2 days or so of non-stop fevers even with tylenol we took Jeremiah in to the doctor, so that would have been on a friday. His normal doctor wasn't there, so he saw one of the physican assistants. She did her whole spiel and spent quite awhile listening to his lungs. The whole time I was getting more and more worried, as it usually doesn't take that long to listen to the ...

How incredibly blessed I am to call this ham my son! He is the light of my life and the reason my heart beats! I love him so much I can't even explain it! The sun could be shining so bright but nothing is more bright than his face when he sees me come in his room in the morning! Sure we have our hard days, and there are days when I feel like I can't do this motherhood thing, but all it takes is one look in his eyes and I know it will be ok. That we will get through this thing called life together. There is nothing stronger than the bond we hold already. I sit here typing in happy tears just thinking of how much he means to me. I almost feel even more blessed knowing our journey to have him. I can't count how many mothers days I didn't want to crawl out of bed. How many church services I would cringe through when people I didn't know would say "happy mothers day" and I'd have to force on a smile when all I wanted to do was crawl in bed and cry. My t...

My dearest Jeremiah, I really can not believe you have been here for a half a year already! Before we know it, we will be planning your 1st birthday! The past 6 months have been the most challenging, yet joyful months in my entire life. I have watched you go from a tiny baby that didn't do much, to an infant that giggles, smiles and shrieks with happiness! You are such a happy baby and I love that about you. You are always offering up your adorable smile to whomever will look at you...friends, family, cashiers, people passing by, the dog, cats...it doesn't matter! Right now your favorites are petting Belly and laughing at the cats as their whiskers tickle your face! Your laugh just gets me in the heart! The other day we had a giggle fest and you were laughing so hard you had tears in your eyes! Mommy was crying with joy! You also love it when you see Daddy in the morning, when he comes home for lunch and when he comes home for the night. You give him the biggest smiles and g...

9 weeks gestation 21 Weeks Gestation 30 weeks gestation A few hours old 1 month 2 months 3 months 4 months 5 months

My mom, cousin Sabrina, her son Matthew, Jeremiah and I (Christel) all took a road trip to Tyler Texas to see Sabrina's best friend, Amanda, and her family! We left Sunday, April 7th around 7pm and drove all the way there. My mom drove, and Matthew, Jeremiah and I were in the back. We weren't too far along when we had to pull over because Jeremiah pooped his pants. Well, that was the first thing I forgot to plan for. What do I do with dirty diapers? The diaper was horrendous so I threw it in the ditch. Some poor, poor animal is going to get quite the treat when they rip that diaper open haha! At one point I was driving and hit some animal...it looked like a cat. The stupid thing had no chance. I didn't see it until it was at the bumper and then I felt the bump.  Because I didn't want to add too many hours to our already 15 hour long trip, I just fed Jeremiah his bottles in the carseat without stopping to burp. Which we later learned, was a big, big mistake. Jeremiah...

Jeremiah is now a little over 19 weeks old! He will be 20 weeks old on Monday! Time sure is flying by! We have had an eventful past month or so. Jeremiah has been in and out of the doctors more than I care to admit.  First we were in because he had dry, red patches all over his arms, shoulders, legs and back. His family doctor couldn't figure it out so he sent us to the dermatologist. So we went there, she didn't quite know what it was so we treated it like eczema. We used a strong hydrocortosone cream twice a day. Well, it cleared up in about a week! We had to go back in two weeks for a recheck and got the clear to come back in a year to check on things. Then, one morning I noticed some goo coming out of Jeremiah's ear. I took him back to his family doctor and he was diagnosed with an ear infection. We weren't given antibiotics but were told to put a couple drops of vinegar in his ear a few times a day. After his whole ear turned bright red, I decided to get a...

When Jeremiah turned 16 weeks, he tried some rice cereal! He didn't quite get the point, so we waited a week. The next week, his tummy couldn't handle it so we waited another week. Ever since then, he has had rice cereal every morning! At his 4 month check up, his new doctor gave him the green light to try solids! We did sweet potatoes for 4 days, then did green beans for 4 days and did prunes for the first time tonight! For some reason, the blog isn't letting me upload the video of him doing his prunes, but he loved them!

One year ago today.... I woke up in the morning not feeling quite right. My abs felt like I had done a few hundred situps and they hurt! I had one cheap brand of pregnancy test in the bathroom and decided to take it, not expecting anything to show. And I got this...  The line was just barely there but it was there. I had never even gotten anything close to that before. Matt couldn't really see it and my spirits were starting to crush. I decided to post a few pictures of the test on a forum that I was a part of. All the ladies there were saying that it was positive. Mid-day, I decided to not use the bathroom and grab a better brand of test on my way home. Deep down, I knew that was it so I took the test in the store and got this... Oh my I couldn't believe my eyes! I immediately took a picture with my cell and  sent it to Matt and then called him. The picture taken with the phone wasn't very good so poor Matt had to wait 45 minutes until I got home. On the way hom...

Today is Jeremiah's 3 month birthday! Here is a picture from today, the outfit next to him, he used to swim in when he was born! He sure grew fast! In the past few weeks, Jeremiah gave mommy his very first belly laugh! It was so adorable! Of course when I try to get him to laugh for Matt or catch it on video, he won't do it! We also took Jeremiah to his very first basketball game. It was his 3rd cousin Daniel's middle school game! Jeremiah wasn't a big fan of all the noise but settled down once he got back in mommy's arms and promptly fell asleep. He then woke to eat and his favorite 2nd cousin Sabrina fed him!  He is more alert during the day, usually going between 2-3 hours between naps. At night, he has started sleeping about 5 hours for the first stretch and then 4 hours the second stretch. We could almost set our watches to his feeding schedule...every 4 hours on the dot!  He has yet to roll over but tries really hard to sit up. When he is awake, he p...

Life is so busy these days! I started carrying for another baby, he is almost 5 months old! The little guy is such a sweetie and I do enjoy getting to spend my days with two adorable little boys! I really can't wait for this summer when I can take them outside and go on walks, go to the park, etc! Jeremiah- He is now 10 weeks old! I know I say this every blog, but man, time needs to slow down! Before we know it, he'll be graduating high school hehe! Jeremiah is such a happy boy! Unless he is tired, hungry or has a dirty diaper, he is all smiles and giggles. He just loves it when daddy comes home from work! Matt will spend some time with him if he's awake. Jeremiah just smiles, coos, and giggles! It warms my heart to see the two of them together! Matt will make all sorts of silly noises just to get a giggle out of Jeremiah. And the way Matt's voice sounds when Jeremiah smiles/giggles at him is just amazing! Parenthood is definitely the toughest job that I've ever l...

Jeremiah celebrated his first christmas! This has always been a dream of mine. To have a young infant during my favorite holidays- Thanksgiving and Christmas- and God has made them come true! We started out by going to church on Christmas Eve- he was Ooo'd and Ahh'd over just like every time we go to church. He slept through the whole service! You know, having a baby, especially a boy, brought a whole new meaning to me this year. I always marvel at the birth of Jesus, but this year my thoughts were on Mary. Knowing what I went through, am going through and have yet to go through, I wonder if Mary felt those same things. I wonder if she cried when she heard him cry for the first time, if her heart burst open at his first smile, if she cried happy tears while giggling with him. All the wonder of a baby boy- did she experience too? And also did she know what he would have to go through, or did God protect her heart for the time being. So many questions! After church we w...