Encouragement

This last year has been huge as far as watching my little girl turn into a little lady. She started kindergarten, rode on the school bus (which means no car seat or seatbelt), took part in actual field trips and was invited to her first sleepover. That last one was a tough one for me. Growing up, I loved going to sleepovers. We watched movies, ate pizza and junk food, and sometimes played Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board. All very innocent stuff. But honestly, the world is a different place nowadays and sleepovers are something that falls into that "I don't trust the world with my children" category. So when my very good friend told me that her daughter was...

As a Speech and Language Pathologist, I am writing this series in hopes to address concerns when it comes to your child’s speech and what to expect if you feel like your child might not be reaching their milestones. If you are just joining us, be sure to start with Part 1 right here. This series on Speech and Language Development has finally come to an end.  We've journeyed through the developmental stages of infants to four-year-olds.  I've highlighted ways you as a parent can be working with your children to encourage and improve their speech along the way.  And, as I've mentioned before, it is so important to remember that all kids develop at different speeds. That being said,...

As a Speech and Language Pathologist, I am writing this series in hopes to address concerns when it comes to your child’s speech and what to expect if you feel like your child might not be reaching their milestones. If you are just joining us, be sure to start with Part 1 right here. In the previous post, I covered those terrible, I mean, wonderful two's! If you've survived this year, give yourself a pat on the back.  But look out, year three is next and there will be a huge jump in speech and language development for many children.  Your child is now using complete sentences, describing daily events and even telling people those little family secrets (like all they...

Sleeping through the night...Ahh, the holy grail of those first few months with your baby: he’s adorable, she’s the love of your life, you can’t remember life before her, and WHEN WILL HE STOP WAKING YOU UP AT 3 A.M.? When we brought William home, he was a very small baby who desperately needed to gain weight. I was so concerned about him that I was happy to feed him every two hours. I’m pretty sure that pure adrenaline kept me going during those first few weeks. I rarely slept more than about 2 hours at a time. I am breastfeeding and felt like I didn’t have time to pump and let my husband take a turn. Also, for some...

I bought this necklace the December after we had Judah.  It falls right above my heart and seemed like the perfect "push present" (to myself), and I have worn it practically every day since.  And then one day it hit me: Where is my husband’s representation by my heart?  Once I received my “Judah” necklace, I put up my “J” necklace that I wore (which stood for Joel)—and I didn’t think twice about it. I know that is a simple example, but it stopped me in my tracks as I found my faded “J” necklace in the back of a drawer.  I think we, as moms, tend to make our children our life and number one priority—without even realizing.  Date nights...