The Incident

A lot of people have been asking us what happened to Berick's leg so I figured I would make a blog post and put the masses at ease :)

A few weeks ago we were at the Cache Valley Fun Park with some friends and Kenyon and Berick were playing in their big jungle gym type thing. For anyone who hasn't been there its just this big padded structure with tunnels and levels and slides. Well the guys were at the top and Kenyon decided to take Berick down the slide. He's been down it with him before and loves it so we didn't think anything of it. I was on the ground level when I heard Berick scream...not the "I'm having fun" kind of scream. So I go around the the bottom of the slide and see/hear Berick crying hysterically. We proceeded to go sit down with him and upon trying to get him to stand he began to cry more. What happened on the inside of the tunnel goes as follows: Berick was sitting in front of Kenyon between his legs and as they went down Berick put his feet out and fell forward a bit. Kenyon caught him but one of Berick's feet went under Kenyon as they went the rest of the way down. For the rest of the night Berick wouldn't put any weight on that foot and continued to have problems with it the next day.

The next day we took him to his pediatrician. They did an xray (which he was REALLY not thrilled about) and determined that nothing was out of place except for some soft tissue damage...or so we thought. Apparently my doctor should never second guess himself or ask for a second opinion.

So the ped. tells us to give it the weekend and if its still bugging him to come in. Well things seemed to start getting better and he was walking on it albeit with a slight limp but still walking. Then all of a sudden in the past few days he's been walking on it in the morning and then towards lunch he begins to cry and complain that its hurting. We can't put a shoe on his foot because he cries and claims that it hurts.

That leads us to today! We had a wonderful weekend with my mom and grandma but Berick was really starting to have a hard time with his foot. His pediatrician didn't have openings today so they told us to take him to instacare so we could get an xray. At the instacare it was determined that Berick indeed has a fracture in his foot and possibly one on the lower part of his shin. Remember back in this post how I talked about my ped. not second guessing himself? Well he had thought there was a fracture but got a second opinion from another ped. who didn't think so, so he dismissed it. The "possible" shin fracture stems from the doctor at instacare thinking there was a fracture but the radiologist thinking its nothing.

SO he now has a splint for the affected leg and tomorrow we will take him to an orthopedist to get their opinion and decide if he keeps the splint or if he needs a cast.

I'm aware that this is all a bit confusing but it is what it is and I'm glad we've uncovered what's been giving Mr. B so much pain! We sure love our little guy and hate seeing him hurting. He looked at me today after he tripped over something and said "it hurts mama" and it just melted my little heart!

Thanks for listening and we'll keep everyone posted! I'll take a pic of the lil' trooper as well!

Brothers

I keep making promises to blog more and post more pics and such but I'm just tired lately (for pregnancy related reasons) so stick with me and my boring, infrequent posts until I have some more energy...might be a while :) Read to the bottom and you'll find some Berick gems/a dump of pics from my phone!

If you hadn't already heard, Baby Petersen #2 is a BOY! We are super excited and to be honest not wicked surprised. My pregnancy has basically been the same as it was with Berick minus the throwing up I did with Berick. I crave the same flavors and shy away from sweeter things. Kenyon says all he makes is boys...we'll see how that pans out. Little guy was being shy though and wouldn't give us a good look at his face! We have cute shots of Berick's face in the womb but not this guy! I have what's called an anterior placenta so when the guy was doing the ultrasound he had to look through and around my placenta to see the baby. Apparently the placenta was a nice snuggly, pillow in which baby kept hiding his face. For about a minute we got to see his lips and nose but that was it! I'm glad he's healthy and that we were able to see that he's a boy.

This leads me to the post topic. These boys will be basically 2 years apart. I am really excited about this timing but also nervous. Berick is already showing some "terrible two" signs and the idea of dealing with that with a newborn makes me shaky! But that's besides the point. Kenyon turned to me the other day as we were laying in bed and told me how excited he was that Berick would have a little brother. This thought was sparked by bath time. He was thinking about how fun it'll be to have Berick and "little brother" in the bath at the same time. It made me start thinking of my guys together and how sweet it'll be to see Berick with a little tag along. I have 2 older stepbrothers and have really enjoyed having some people who I feel look out for me. That's how I feel Berick will be! Having 2 boys I know will be a handful but I know Heavenly Father has a plan for the spirits that are to come to our family and He knows what, as a mother, I can handle.


With that last statement being said I have had something weighing on my mind heavily for a while. Again I am so excited and feel so blessed to be pregnant with another healthy baby I am very nervous about how my emotions will pan out again. After Berick was born I struggled with Post Pardum Depression pretty bad and have posted about it before. I wasn't necessarily depressed, rather extremely anxious. Anxiety runs on my mom's side of the family so it was only a matter of time before it in some way popped up in my life. Throughout this pregnancy I have already had moments where I feel extremely anxious. I have no idea why! There is nothing in my life that is overly stressful but for some reason certain situations will arise where I just get so worked up and impulsive for no reason. Some people say "why don't you just calm down" or "count to 3 or something"...its not that easy. I grew up with people saying that to my mom or telling her to "take a chill pill" and thought nothing of it but now that I've experienced it myself first hand and have had to take medication, it infuriates me when people say those things. After this baby is born I'll most likely go on medication again like after Berick was born and feel totally ok with that choice. I also think its important for people to not judge women who have to take medication for post pardum. Its a legitimate disorder. I was talking to my Nana yesterday and she said there is no shame in it what so ever. She claimed if you had a condition or disorder with an organ you would take medication so why not for something mental or emotional? I totally agree with that statement! I know this post has gotten a little serious but this was just one of those things I needed to get off my chest! With all of that being said, if you see a mother out in public with a few kids and she's crying or struggling, please don't judge her. She may be having a rough day and might just need a stranger to say "do you need help with anything" or even a simple smile.

Thanks for listening! Here's some pics of my silly dude!

My handsome guy ready for church!

Helping Dad on the job before the end of the season.

Haircut...he was only distracted by "Horton" and there were many tears shed.

Snow Buddy

Sharing his pb sammie with his tiger.

Being a goober at Target

Wearing some shades :)

I hope those pics will tide you all over until the next post! Who knows when that'll be!

Another Babe Makes 4

My little boy is going to be a big brother! Its crazy and scary and wicked exciting! I announced it on facebook but figured I would make a blog post for posterity's sake and to answer so q's that are bound to come up! So a wee bit of background: we started trying in July and I thought I was pregnant but either I wasn't or had what I believe was an early miscarriage. So we kept trying and the beginning of September I took a test because I was late and it was quite positive :) We had our first appointment at the end of September. We go to the appointment thinking I was like 8 weeks pregnant but an ultrasound proved to us I was merely 6.5 which was slightly disappointing but we say baby's heartbeat and everything was just fine. So fast forward to today we had another appointment and am now about 11.5 weeks along and baby is doing great! It had a heartbeat of 166 and I have actually lost a few pounds which is shocking after my first year of candy parent tax with Berick for Halloween which I must say is an excellent perk of being a parent!

So I shall answer a few questions:

1. How are you feeling: Well not too shabby actually. I threw up quite a bit with Berick but haven't thrown up at all with this nugget. I feel sick if I'm hungry or haven't eaten in a while but other than that I'm just tired. Chasing around a toddler while pregnant is not easy but luckily he stills naps 3 hours a day :)

2. Do you think baby is a girl or boy/which do you want: I believe baby is a boy and think about it sometimes and feel that I would be shocked to learn if it was a girl. In terms of what we want, we want health :) As long as the baby is healthy we'll be ok with whatever it is however financially having a boy would be a little less taxing.

3. How do you feel about Berick being a big brother: I look at him and think he is way to little still but by the time baby is born Berick will be 2 so I think it'll be ok.

4. Food Aversions/Cravings: Very similar to my pregnancy with Berick. Sweets like cupcake frosting and such I am not interested in but I could eat a nice juicy steak everyday! I want really savory tastes like A1 sauce and sweet and sour chicken!

I think those things should sum up some questions and if not then feel free to ask me :) It should also be noted that we are super excited to have another baby but I also have many fears. I'll address them in another post because this one is happy!

Nursery

My sweet little boy went to nursery for the first time today. Some people may not think its a big deal but I do! I've been in Primary for a few months now so Kenyon has been taking him but Kenyon has just been called as Young Men's Secretary so we had to go ahead and send Berick to nursery.

The first glitch we needed to work out before he went was nap time. Right now church goes from 1-4 and Berick naps from 2-5 so as you can see there's a bit of a problem. People with little, napping children know that napping on Sundays is crazy hard! So what did we do? We got Berick to nap for 3 hours BEFORE church! It was amazing! Now that he was going to be a rested boy for nursery I didn't feel nearly as bad about leaving him.

Then the hard part comes. Berick is a champ and doesn't have a hard time being left if he's occupied but I still have a hard time leaving him. We brought him in the room and he started playing with toys and I kissed him with a teary eye and went to Primary. I guess Kenyon stayed on a little longer. When it was time for Kenyon to leave he kissed Berick and Berick said "bye" and that was that. I checked on him when I could by peaking through the window and he just looked so grown up! At one point he was just sitting at the table coloring a little cube (that I'm keeping forever) and being so good! Needless to say when it was time to get him I booked it over to the nursery and Kenyon and I went in together. Apparently the only time he cried was when they picked up all the toys in preparation for snack time. Other than that he was a good boy!

I know its not a huge thing but I just felt so much pride that my guy did so well in there. He is growing up so fast and I love him so much! I am amazed how much he is learning these days and how much he needs me but loves independence. He comes to me for cuddles and when he is hurt but other than that he is his own little man!

Thanks for reading my sappy story :) Also I continuously promise pics but again I don't have any. Most of the people that read this blog know my on facebook and can catch some recent pics there. Stay tuned for some exciting up coming posts!

Happenings

Ok so sometimes lately I just don't feel like blogging and after our trip I REALLY just didn't feel like it! I actually needed a vacation from my vacation so I've enjoyed just relaxing! All the pics I put up of the trip are on facebook so if you haven't seen them already or aren't friends with me on facebook just friend me and have a look :)

There really hasn't been too much to report as of recent. Kenyon started his last year of school which we are totally excited/terrified for! We've only been together in school so being out of school will be very weird but I'm wicked proud of my guy to be graduating! I'm just so proud of him for sticking with it even when he felt like quitting! He's been doing school full time and then work in between so the weekends are nice when we get to see him but its only temporary :)

As for my crazy little toddler man Berick, he's doing just fine! He has 10 teeth now which makes his smile pretty cute! My favorite part about his smile is that his top front teeth are growing in with a gap in between which might look goofy when he's older but for now it gives him so much character! Other than his teeth he is just chugging along and soaking up knoweledge like a sponge! He says some words now and here's a little list and sounds to accompany:

• Banana: na-na
• Shoes: shssss (sometimes it sounds like he is saying shiz but I know what he means is shoes)
• Mom: mama or maaaaa if he's trying to blow a spit bubble
• Dad: da
• Fishies: fshhsss (I know that may not make sense but he will make that sound when he wants goldfish crackers and when he sees fish on Finding Nemo)
• Nemo: 'mo
• Go: go

Now he is also good at 2 signs that we have taught him which are "more" and "all done". I think if he would learn fast if we taught him more signs but just those 2 have bridged the communication gap immensly.

Along with words he can also tell you what various creatures and things "say" such as:

• Lion: he roars/kind of growls
• Snake: ssssssssss
• Doggie: woo woo
• Cat: meaaaaaa (its a working progress)
• Car: vroom vroom

He is also pretty funny. When asked to laugh he'll do this really sarcastic, wide mouthed laugh and then when you ask him to be sad he will squint his eyes and do a sad face. Its pretty funny.

Other than the previously mentioned stuff he's pretty normal. I have discovered that having a toddler can be very frustrating but insanely rewarding at the same time. He now gives kisses (mostly to me) and can be very affectionate. He loves to sit in your lap and be read to. I love me little guy and am amazed by the things he does everyday, both good and bad.

As for me I'm just taking life as if comes. I was called to primary last month and that has been crazy awesome! I teach 5-6 year olds. Last Sunday was the first one that has been frustrating for me and I'm sure I'll have more but mostly I enjoy the kids. They say the greatest things sometimes. We also just got cable today so I'm pretty stoked about that! I made my first wreath last month which perhaps I'll blog about in the near future. It actually turned out pretty well! Other than that stuff I'm pretty excited for fall! Its my favorite season because I can start wearing jackets and sweaters but still warm enough that I won't have to bundle Berick up like a burritto to go play outside!

That's it for now folks! Next time I PROMISE I'll do pics on my blog! Thanks for reading :)

The Trip

So lately I have been referencing a trip and before we leave I'll explain what we're going to do and where we're gong :) We are headed out tomorrow on a 10 trip starting with California and ending in Idaho! Our tentative itinerary goes as follows.

August 2nd, Day 1: Kenyon will get off work at some point in the evening and we'll make a quick drive over to Wendover to stay the night. Hopefully they have a pool 'cause I'm itching to go swimming!

Day 2: We will begin our drive over to San Francisco and get there sometime in the afternoon. Along the way we intend to stop in Reno to have lunch with some friends who had just moved there then be in San Fran! I guess technically we will be staying in Palo Alto with some super awesome friends that we know from our first married student ward. We're super jazzed to see them!

-Have I mentioned I've never been to California and I'm super pumped to be going to San Francisco?!

Day 3: Party time in San Francisco! We haven't done the details yet of what we're doing that day but it will probably include seeing that pier with all the sea lions on it!

Day 4: We will be back in San Francisco for a friend's wedding! We met the couple when we went to Ketchikan, AK and have stayed friends ever since. We are excited to be there for them to celebrate! Plus I'm hoping Berick will fit into his suit that my mom got for him a little bit ago :)

Day 5: We'll begin our trek up to Oregon by traveling up the California coast. I'm not sure where we will be staying that night but we will either camp or stay in a hotel near the redwoods!

Day 6: Meet up with my parents in southern Oregon. We will then be camping for the next couple days! Kenyon and I bought some foam pads for the adventure and are hoping Berick will sleep while we're in the wilderness.

Days 7 and 8: We'll be camping with my parents for those days and I don't know the specifics just yet.

Day 9: Ocean fishing is the proposed activity for this day but I'm nervous about it and haven't decided one way or the other just yet. My stepdad's friend has a 40 ft. long boat with a cabin below but I have a fear of the open ocean and the last time I was on a boat in the ocean I got sick...way sick and was miserable the entire time. Plus I don't know how well Berick will do for hours on a boat. Needless to say I'm not sure :/

Day 10: Kind of the whole reason for our trip. My mom and step dad are getting sealed for time and all eternity in the Portland, Oregon Temple! They have asked Kenyon and I to be their escorts and we'll have a sitter for Berick during that time. We're hoping there is enough time after for us to go to the Portland zoo but we'll see about timing.

Day 11: We will begin our journey back to Logan. We have some more super awesome friends who we get to stay with that night in Boise. We met them in Ketchikan as well.

Day 12: Home to Logan :)

So that's what we'll be doing for the next week and a half and I am soooooooo excited! Kenyon especially needs this vacation! We think Berick will have a good time as long as he is occupied with something. We have our portable dvd player for car rides and will equip ourselves with lots of snacks! We're also going to toys r us with a gift card to get him a few things for the ride!

I realize I haven't been posting much lately but maybe this post can get you excited for the next one which will include LOTS of pics :) Thanks for reading!

My Thoughts

I generally keep this blog pretty neutral including mainly posts about our life and of course pictures of the Bean :) However I've got a lot of thoughts on various things that come and go. For those that know me, you know I'm an opinionated person and if asked I'll tell it strait and let you know how I really feel about a subject. Being a housewife and having a hubby who is in school and works full time, I'm not allotted many opportunities to discuss said opinions. Granted Berick will listen intently for about a minute but then becomes enamored with things entirely more interesting like a graham cracker crumb or fitting a car into a space its clearly not destined for. Will all of that being said, I think I'm going to start putting some of my opinions or thoughts here in this blog from time to time. Of course I'll most likely touch upon subjects that are seen as taboo mainly because putting your opinion out there on them is frowned upon unless its the opinion of the media masses but to be honest I don't care :) It seems as though in this day and age if you go against the media stream then you're a radical...well call me a radical then! Now for those of you who follow my blog, have no fear! I won't be ranting with every post and I will still be posting many pics of my Nugget but blogs are a way of expressing oneself so gosh darn it I'm going to do it!

To start off these random rant posts I'd like to take a stand on a subject I'm EXTREMELY passionate about. Before I go into it I'd like to say that the opinions I post are those that I have at this current time. It doesn't mean they aren't up for discussion or will never change but right now, this is it!

Women's Rights: here we go! In case you haven't already established my gender: I'm a woman! I love being a woman and take pride in the fact that my gender has come an awfully long way in this country. I say country because there are many places in this world where women are second class citizens and that's terrible. However this is not a rant about those women. Women here in America are spunky, strong, and full of life! Full of life in a few senses of the word. That's right folks I'm going to throw it out here how I feel about women's rights when they pertain to having children. Being a woman I'm proud of the fact that I can have children and feel so blessed that I so far have not had issues with that. Being pregnant was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Every milestone I reached with Berick was so rewarding and when he finally got here words can't express all the ways it changed my life. That being said I greatly appreciate my rights to become pregnant and have as many children as I want. Here's where the controversy of my opinion comes in: once a baby is conceived that baby is a human being no matter what stage it is. To me my right to choose is taken away when a HUMAN BEING is growing in my body. As a human I have all the rights this country has to offer and so should my unborn child. Up until the baby comes out its not considered illegal to kill it but as soon as it enters that delivery room, I know longer have the right to takes its life. That makes NO sense to me. That baby moves and exists in me for give or take 9 months and is very much alive! In cases of rape or incest or what have you I can understand abortion but other than that I don't find it to be a viable option. There are SO MANY wonderful people in this world who for one reason or another cannot have children and there only option is adoption. Give that HUMAN BEING to loving parents instead of ending its life. Babies are so precious regardless of if they are in or out of the womb and they deserved to be loved no matter who ends up being the parent.

That's it for the topic however its not cut and dry like some other issues may be so I will most likely talk about it again. I realize many people don't like what I've just said but again this is what I believe and currently I'm entitled to it! If you're still reading I applaud you for looking at a viewpoint regardless of if its yours or not! Next post I promise to be light and include some fun stuff about Berick who currently is battling a sinus infection :(

Thanks loyal readers for hanging in there and listening! Until next time...