Petersons Never Give Up: January: The start of 2020

This new year has already brought lots of excitement and change to our family! We celebrated the new year with our dear friends the Saffrons. We had sweet and smoky bbq chicken chili, rolls, oreo cake, and chips and guac. We played lots of fun games and put the kids to bed before midnight to avoid grumpy moods the next day. Alana took a very long time to fall asleep randomly worrying about what it might be like to swallow a pill (we had briefly mentioned that her anxiety was really affecting her and Brett asked if she was going to take a pill). Brett and I played In a Pickle with the Saffrons while Sean helped Alana. The game was a lot of fun and particularly hilarious when there were plays on words that Brett didn't get=) Brett was bummed to have to go to bed earlier than midnight, but he fell asleep reading to Oreo which was so cute! We played a game of Clank, then shared good things that happened in 2019 and things we are hoping for and excited for the new year.

Oreo couldn't figure out why we wouldn't go to bed and finally just went to bed himself.

The kids didn't go back to school till Jan 6th and we enjoyed lots of time playing and relaxing!!

Mom P had a piano recital that we really enjoyed!

Sean got some new informational posters printed for his patient rooms and they look very nice and professional.

We went to see Frozen 2 again and we all loved it again! Lizzie fell asleep on the floor as soon as we got home.

This is a fun new game the girls have made up, Oreo chases the wheels and irritates them a lot.

Alana lost another tooth! That makes 3 so far and another is very wiggly!

One day thousands of black birds started swarming all over our yard. The kids were so excited and it was really impressive how many birds just kept flying all around!

Brett earned his yellow belt in Karate and has been so excited to get it!

Lizzie became a Sunbeam this year and got to be a helper during singing time on her first day. She is so excited to go to primary now!

Oreo kept finding mud in the yard. Since then we have covered the mud with rocks and have really amped up our diligence in getting him a walk every day to make sure he doesn't get bored and then get into mischief.

Alana's friend Eiley had to have surgery on her hips and was in a cast for a while. We had her over to play a few times and Alana and Lizzie were great friends to help eiley.

I got this new shelf for my bathroom for Christmas and I really like the way it looks.

We decided the kids rooms all needed an upgrade so we went to Ikea and bought them all new beds. Brett picked a metal loft bed and a new mattress. We got his bed put together and then had all three kids sleep in Brett's room while Sean and I stayed up late putting together the girls new beds. I spent the next week cleaning and organizing and going through old things and selling things online. Their rooms look great and they really seem happy with the result.

Now that Brett is 8 and with the start of the new year, we were given the children and youth booklet to help him get started with goal setting. The booklet is very different from anything we had as youth and basically just says you should be setting and working on goals in the four categories of spiritual, social, physical, and intellectual. Sean and I were mourning the fact that there isn't much structure like there was when we were in the youth programs and wondering how to make it work for our family. Sean had the impression that we should have badges or something like that for the kids to earn. He fleshed the idea out and the kids have been so excited. The way it works is they set a small goal and draw a picture of that goal. We turn it into a badge and when they complete the goal, their badge goes on their ribbon. Right now Brett is working on a scripture badge which he will get after he reads 10 chapters of the book of mormon. The badges can level up with stickers on them so he can continue to read for higher levels on his scripture badge. Alana is working on being a better friend and Lizzie is working on eating a wider variety of snacks (instead of just chocolate, lol). Sean and I still need to make some badges for us. We have all earned a Gratitude Badge so far because we made the goal to be more grateful through the holiday season and write thank you cards. The kids are very excited and its fun to see the way the Spirit directs our individual family.

Alana visited the doctor last week because he anxiety is getting pretty bad, I worry about the way clothing stresses her, how food textures and flavors are getting more and more limited, how she hesitates to go to school, and feels super sad often. We decided to try some medication for her, but she is too anxious to take the pill. We spent an hour the other night just trying to get her to swallow the pill. My heart just breaks for her. We have let it rest for now and are probably going to try to get a liquid form. We don't want to force her and we don't want her to feel like a failure.

I spent the last year working for a company called Sew Sweet and loved it! I learned so so much about sewing and business. At the beginning of the year the owner cut the payout for some of the blankets by %35. When some of the seamstresses responded negatively (granted some were very very negative and even hateful) the owner closed the warehouse for a week and a half to figure out how she wanted to proceed. It has been a very dramatic process and lots of feelings have been hurt. We were working on teams before with team leads and designated days where we would drop off our projects and pick up new ones. Now there are no teams and we are all considered contractors. We were put on call lists and would be told when work was available, but when we dropped off that work there would be no guarantee we would have more work. Driving to Spanish Fork takes me 45 min so that was a problem for me. My team lead was also one of the major designers and tutorial makers for the company and she was let go. I think some of these changes were a smart move for the company and I wish them the very best but, after tons and tons of thought I decided it was time to stop. I've been really sad about it and felt a bit empty inside, but I also feel peace that this is the right thing for my family right now.

Brett has karate on Mondays and this past Monday, Sean called me to say he couldn't come home because he had a completely flat tire! All the kids and I went to pick him up, then dropped off Brett at Karate. Then we went back and got his car (he had pumped up the tire with air) and drove it to the tire place (praying that it wouldn't blow out). Turns out we needed a new tire which is fun, but it felt very adventurous to drive down Bangerter Highway with our emergency lights flashing.

Yesterday another crazy thing happened. Sean got up and took Oreo for a walk around 6:30, we took Sean to work since his car was in getting fixed and then I got Brett and Alana to school. I came home and cleaned up the kitchen and cleaned out the fridge since Lizzie and I were planning to go to the grocery store. Oreo was acting really tired and a little odd. I felt like something was off, but I am a worrier so I figured he just needed some rest. Liz and I went to the store and returned an hour later. Oreo couldn't walk straight, he was peeing all over, he was falling over, shaking, and just sick. It was so sad and I was so scared! I called the vet and they said they would squeeze him in. My neighbor was home and willing to take the girls so I dropped Lizzie off then went to the school to check Alana out. I drove straight over to the vet and they took him right back to make sure he was stable. After they found he was stable the tech started looking at him and asked if we had any marijuana in the house. I said no, but he did go on a walk this morning. She examined him and then the vet came in and examined him. They both thought he looked like he had marijuana poisoning. They did a urine test and when it came back positive I felt relieved because we knew what the problem was and that we would be able to get him better. The whole time he was responding really well and wasn't showing signs of neurological damage so that was good. The pumped a huge bag of saline into his back. it was like two big pockets of fluid right under his skin and it took about 12 hours to absorb all into him. He peed a ton and feels so much better today. I honestly thought he was dying and I just feel so grateful he is ok. I posted on our facebook group for others to be careful in the area with pets and kids in case their is more marijuana around. Our councilman said he'd have the police department patrol the park area to make sure there isn't any more lying around. Sean thinks it may have been baked into something. It turned into a great opportunity to talk with our kids about drug use and how it truly is poisoning.